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Pratim Ranjan Bose

Kolkata, Aug. 2 Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has bid for three oil and gas offshore exploration blocks at the recently concluded bidding round in Egypt. The company is also exploring opportunities to participate in the ongoing bidding round in Australia. It has existing interests in both countries.

According to sources, GSPC-led consortia bid for three blocks during the round which concluded in mid-July. Public sector oil majors HPCL and Oil India Ltd participated in the consortium in two blocks. Adani Welspun Exploration Ltd — the E&P arm of Adani Group — partnered GSPC’s bid for one block.

Egypt follows a two-part bidding process. In the first part, the bids are short-listed based on technical evaluation. In the second part, the short-listed parties are invited to submit the price bids for final award. The entire process is expected to take four to six weeks. “The bidding round in Australia has just opened and will be concluded in October. We are exploring opportunities to participate in the same,” a company source told Business Line.

The Gujarat State PSU currently holds a 50 per cent operating stake in both North Happy (offshore) and South Diyur (onshore) blocks in Egypt. India-based Alkor Petroo Ltd (20 per cent) and Calgary-based GeoGlobal Resources (30 per cent) are two other partners in these blocks.

On the other hand, the company holds participatory interest of 20-25 per cent in three blocks (EPP-27, WA-388 and JPDA-06-103) in Australia. Oilex Ltd of Australia holds the operating interest in all the blocks. The other consortium partners include HPCL and BPCL.

Apart from Egypt and Australia, the company holds operating interest in three exploration assets in Yemen. Alkor Petroo and Jubilant Enpro of India hold participatory interest in all three blocks.

In India, GSPC has interests in 53 blocks. About 11 blocks were awarded in the recently concluded NELP-VII.

More Stories on : Overseas Investments | Petroleum

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