Govt to auction 60 small oil, gas fields with potential of 194 mn tonnes

India will auction 60 discovered small oil and gas fields with the potential to produce 194.65 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas, the government said in a tweet after a cabinet meeting.

Blocks that will be auctioned were originally controlled by Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India Ltd. The fields have remained undeveloped for years due to their small size and the high cost of development.

India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, imports nearly three-quarters of its energy requirements, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of cutting its fuel import dependency to two-thirds by 2022 and to half by 2030.

India's previous auction of discovered small fields in 2016 was dominated by small Indian bidders.