Oil Auction

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday launched the Offshore Bid Round offering and assured transparency, efficiency and ease of doing business to investors. In a keynote address to industry leaders in Houston, the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister described the initiatives taken by his Ministry in accelerating the exploration and production activities in India. Puri also gave his views on the importance of Coal Bed Methane in increasing India's domestic production and reducing the country's import burden. He launched the Special CBM (popularly known as Coal Seam Gas) Bid Round - 2022 for International Competitive Bidding on Monday at Houston. Simultaneously, Puri launched the Offshore Bid Round offering 26 blocks -- 18 carved out by DGH and eight as a result of expression of interests (EoI) from potential investors -- covering an area of approximately 2.3 lakh Sq. Km. Out of 26 blocks, three blocks based on EoIs are onshore covering an area of only 3,666 sq km, a medi

The block in Rajasthan saw competition from ONGC and OIL but the five in Madhya Pradesh and one in West Bengal saw single bids from ONGC, DGH said

The government sees this as a milestone in the country's hydrocarbon sector, as investments so far were limited to only seven of the 26 sedimentary basins in the country

The new system of awarding blocks in not so prolific areas will replace a two-year-old method of awarding them to companies offering the highest revenue share to the government

It is touted as an auction round that would replicate the shale gas revolution of the US