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The Minister said the report submitted by Petrofed on the changes needed in the exploration policy would be circulated among the industry members and their comments would be considered.

FINAL ACT: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar (centre), with Mr Sunjoy Joshi, Joint Secretary, in the Ministry, and Mr V.K. Sibal (extreme right), Director-General of Hydrocarbons, and the representatives of ONGC and Cairn Energy during the signing of production sharing contracts under the fifth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy in New Delhi on Friday. The Government has given contracts to Indian and foreign companies for 10 onland, 6 deep-water and 2 shallow offshore blocks. - Rajeev Bhatt

New Delhi , Sept. 23

THE Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, has said that some changes were required in the policy for award of exploration blocks.

"Some changes are required. Instead of having uniform bid evaluation criteria for all blocks - deep sea, shallow water and onland - we ought to consider separate categorisation of blocks based on risk involved," he said at the signing of contracts for the 18 blocks awarded under the fifth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) on Friday.

The Minister said the proposal of open acreage policy should also be considered. He said the Government would launch the sixth round of bidding for oil and gas blocks under NELP in January with changes in the licensing policy with the ultimate aim of moving towards an open acreage system.

Under NELP, the Government announces certain blocks that are open for bidding for a certain period. Under the open acreage policy, the proposal is that the blocks will be available throughout the year and companies could visit the data room anytime and bid for any block they find attractive. The Minister also said the report submitted by Petrofed on the changes needed in the exploration policy would be circulated among the industry members and their comments would be considered.

Mr Aiyar said that more attention was required for developing marginal fields.

The Government signed production sharing contracts with seven foreign companies namely Birckbeck Investment Ltd (Mauritius), Cairn Energy Plc of the UK (through its seven subsidiaries), ENI of Italy, GeoGlobal Resources (Barbados), Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc of the UK, Jubilant Capital Pvt Ltd (Cyprus) and Niko Resources (NELP V) Ltd (a subsidiary of Niko Resources Ltd of Canada).

The contracts were also signed with seven Indian companies - Focus Energy Ltd (formerly known as Phoenix Overseas Ltd), GAIL (India) Ltd, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Oil India Ltd, ONGC and Reliance Industries Ltd.

The 18 blocks include six deepwater blocks, two offshore shallow water blocks, and 10 onland blocks.

The minimum investment committed by bidders in these blocks is approximately Rs 1,653 crore in the first phase and Rs 3,771 crore in all the three phases of exploration.

The Government had offered 20 blocks under NELP V. Awards in respect of two remaining blocks in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are expected to be announced shortly, said the Petroleum Secretary, Mr S.C. Tripathi.

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