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New Delhi May 17 With the Government rejecting a proposal of British Gas Exploration & Production India Ltd (BGEPIL) to acquire a stake in three deepwater blocks of ONGC in Krishna Godavari basin, the British firm will now have to compete with other oil and gas companies to acquire these blocks.

The Government proposes to offer these three blocks in the upcoming rounds of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) as and when their exploration tenures come to an end.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dinsha Patel, informed Lok Sabha, ``The Government has not approved the proposal of ONGC for alliance with BGEPIL for exploration and development of three deep water blocks in KG basin."

"The farm-in strategic alliance proposal in respect of BGEPIL was not adequately responsive in comparison to terms being offered during the open bidding process under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Therefore, Government decided that it would not be appropriate to accept the proposal at such a stage when our NELP process has achieved good credibility and support worldwide based on a transparent open bid system and speedy decision making process,'' he added.

According to the Minister, the Government has been consistently following a fully transparent and open methodology for awarding exploration blocks under NELP.

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