The Hindu Business Line : NELP VII auctions to begin in Nov

Mumbai, Aug. 4 Auctions under the seventh round of New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) would commence in November and about 85 oil and gas blocks would go under the hammer. The total acreage of the blocks is 0.4 million square km, said Mr V.K. Sibal, Director General of Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons.

He was talking to the media on Saturday at a CII conference on the availability of services in the country’s offshore exploration and production sector.

Mr Sibal said that under NELP VII, about 40 offshore blocks would be offered, covering 0.15 to 0.2 million square km. On the west coast, 25 offshore blocks would be offered, each having 4,000 to 9,000 square km area. Those blocks on the west coast, which were not previously licensed, would be given licences in this round, he said.

NELP-VII would also be offering blocks in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier while addressing the conference, Mr Sibal said, “The Indian offshore E&P services sector needs a competitive advantage, which can be gained by increasing investments in various aspects of the sector, including R&D. We have to link the entire value chain with cutting edge technology. Controlling costs is a key concern for the sector and R&D can also help achieve this objective. You have to look at the future, R&D investment can drive growth in the E&P services sector,” he said.

Also addressing the conference, Mr S.C. Varma, President (Development and Production) of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), said that the company plans to invest about $12-14 billion in the next two to three years in its oil and gas business.

The money would be invested for exploration, development, surveying, drilling of wells and in the proposed East-West gas pipelines, he said.

Mr Varma said that of this amount, $5.7 billion would be earmarked for development, including the KG D6 block and the NEC25 block. The company plans to drill about 100 wells in the next three to four years, he said.

RIL had reported rise in net profits of 28.2 per cent for the first quarter, which was led by a record high gross crude refining margin of $15.4 a barrel, up from $12.4 per barrel a year ago.

Net profit for the quarter touched Rs 3,264 crore compared with Rs 2,547 crore for the same the year-ago quarter.

Its gross turnover grew 12.7 per cent, at Rs 29,493 crore (Rs 26,166 crore).

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