The Hindu Business Line : Production-sharing agreements signed for oil, gas blocks

PUTTING IT IN INK: The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, flanked by the Minister of State, Mr Dinsha Patel, and the Petroleum Secretary, Mr M. S. Srinivasan, at the signing of production sharing pacts under NELP-VI by the representatives (from left) Mr V.K. Sharma (Tata), Mr Sunil Bharti (Cairn Energy), Mr D.K. Pandey (ONGC) and Mr A.K. Jain, Joint Secretary, in the Capital on Friday. — Ramesh Sharma

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New Delhi March 2 The Government on Friday signed production-sharing agreements with winners of the 52 oil and gas blocks auctioned under the sixth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The round, which came with its own share of issues like profit petroleum and past performance of the companies, finally concluded on Friday with the signing of the contracts.

State-owned ONGC (with its partners) signed contracts for 24 blocks — 12 deep water, two shallow water offshore and 10 onland. It is also a partner with Cairn Energy of UK in one shallow offshore block. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd signed pact for seven deep-water blocks, while Santos of Australia inked the contract for two deep-water blocks. Oil India signed agreements for six onland blocks, while Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) for three. The round also saw Anil Ambani Group making its foray into exploration activity.

The Government is expecting an investment of about $5 billion in NELP-VI blocks. The Petroleum Ministry now plans to launch the seventh round, with the highest number of blocks on offer ever more than 70 by April with a view to increasing domestic production.

The other successful winners who signed the contract include Focus and Petrogas for one shallow offshore block each, Naftogaz for three onland blocks, including one in partnership with Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd. Essar Oil signed contracts for two onland blocks while Prize Petroleum and Geoglobal inked deal for one onland block each.

In his address, the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, said a total of 32 oil and gas discoveries have been made in the country so far in the exploration blocks awarded in the five rounds under the NELP. He also said that oil and oil equivalent gas (O+OEG) of 400 million tonnes have been established in these discoveries.

The Petroleum Minister assured that his Ministry is fully committed to complete transparency and welcomed any suggestions in this regard. Referring to NELP-VI round, he emphasised that it has been the most successful round. A total of 165 bids, the highest ever were received for these 52 blocks under NELP-VI against 69 highest bids received in last round of NELP-V. A total of 310 data packages amounting to Rs 78.60 crore were sold as against the previous best sale of Rs 22.75 crore in NELP-V. Further, 20 new foreign companies out of 36 foreign companies submitted bids under NELP-VI. As many as 39 blocks attracted multiple bids with one block namely, CB-ONN-2004/3 receiving 10 bids. This round saw participation of 36 companies from 17 countries.

One of the major achievements of NELP-VI Round has been receipt of bids for 21 deepwater blocks, and bids for all the 12 Frontier on-land blocks. This has by far been the highest offering of Frontier on-land blocks and the interest shown by E&P companies in undertaking exploration in these blocks shows the maturity of the Indian sedimentary basins.