DSF Round 3 auctions: 32 contract areas comprising 75 discoveries on offer

Production at DSF-1 Elao field expected to start in a week

The third round of auctions under the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) regime for oil and gas blocks was launched on Thursday. Under this bid round, 32 contract areas comprising 75 discoveries are on offer. These exploratory fields are spread over nine sedimentary basins covering an acreage of about 13,685 square kilometres and have a potential of approximately 232 million tonnes (mt).
 
These oil and gas discoveries were made by public sector undertaking oil companies, ONGC and Oil India. But they were eventually relinquished, citing unviability. This was either due to their small size or because of the restrictive fiscal