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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would showcase the oil and gas blocks for the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-X) as part of the event, Petrotech-2014, on Sunday.
Petroleum Secretary Vivek Rae had confirmed at least 56 blocks would be offered for bidding, while sources said the number may increase to 70, as the environmental clearance for as many was given by environment ministry. Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily is also in charge of the ministry.
The government would announce replacing of NELP with the uniform licensing policy (ULP) with extended tax holidays, zero royalty payment and longer-contract tenure during Petrotech. The notification for the new gas price came on Friday.
"We welcome the adoption of the Rangarajan Committee formula as a step in the right direction. However, gas sales under NELP have to be at an arm’s length from market prices. Accordingly, we hope the same momentum is maintained and, by the PSC , gas markets are allowed to develop and transition to market price soon," a Reliance Industries spokesperson said. The government is planning to follow the revenue-sharing model in the new rounds, as against the existing production-sharing contracts.
The flagship event would see participants from all over the world, while energy ministers from 13 countries, including Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Canada, Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Oman, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, the UAE, Libya and Equador, would be present in the event.
The 10th round of NELP would be the second highest offering of blocks since its advent in 1999. Of the blocks considered for offering in NELP-X, 25 are deep-water, 20 shallow-water and 23 onland. The government has, in the previous nine rounds, awarded 254 blocks for exploration of oil and gas. But the last few rounds got minimal response from global majors, with most majors staying away. "This time we would see a large number of foreign interest owing to many policy measures the ministry has initiated," a government official said.
