Seven Indian and four foreign companies today submitted 45 bids for 23 of the 27 blocks offered under the third round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Four blocks failed to attract bids.
The Indian companies are Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India Ltd (OIL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and Jubiliant Enpro India Ltd.
The foreign companies that submitted bids are Cairn Energy of the UK (along with subsidiaries), Premier Oil (UK), Hardy Exploration and Production (UK), and Geo Global Resources (India) Ltd (Canada). Premier Oil and Geo Global Resources have bid for the first time under the NELP.
The first two rounds of NELP bidding had received only two foreign bids.
ONGC has put in its bid for all the 23 blocks. For some blocks, it has joined hands with other Indian companies like IOC, OIL and GAIL. The Reliance-Hardy consortium has bid for all but one offshore blocks (both shallow and deep water). The consortium did not bid for any onshore block.
Bids have been received for eight onland blocks, six shallow water offshore blocks and nine deep water blocks. Eighteen blocks received multiple bids , whereas five blocks attracted single bids. In NELP-III, about 78 per cent of the blocks attracted multiple bids as compared to around 50 per cent in NELP-I and NELP-II. The government will take 10 weeks to evaluate these bids and another eight weeks for the signing of contracts.
Thus the entire bidding process would be completed in about four and a half months, petroleum minister Ram Naik said while addressing reporters here today.
He said preparations for the next round of bidding under NELP were in an advanced stage and would be announced in the first quarter of the next financial year.
