Nearly a year after bids closed for the oil and gas blocks offered in the ninth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), the government may award blocks to the winners by this month-end.

“Bids for 33 blocks (out of the 34 blocks that were offered for bidding in NELP-IX) are under evaluation and blocks are likely to be awarded during 2011-12,” the Economic Survey 2011-12 said here on Thursday.

In eight rounds of NELP, 235 blocks have been awarded so far.

The 34 exploration blocks offered in NELP-IX included eight deepwater blocks, seven shallow water blocks, 11 on-land blocks, and 8 Type-S (or small) on-land blocks, it said.

The government had offered 34 blocks in NELP-IX in 2010.

Oil Minister Mr S Jaipal Reddy had at the close of bidding on March 28, 2011, stated that the blocks would be awarded and Production Sharing Contracts signed with winners in four months.

While the Survey did not say how many of the 33 blocks that were bid for in NELP-IX would be awarded, sources said a high-level panel of secretaries has recommended awarding of only 14 areas.

Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) recommended award of only 14 areas after three areas in Mahanadi basin off the Orissa coast had to be withdrawn as they fell in Naval firing/exercise areas and bids for several others had to be rejected due to various reasons.

The panel recommended award of two shallow water and two onland blocks to consortia led by ONGC. State-owned OIL led consortia was adjudged winner for two onland blocks in the Assam-Arakan basin. Deep Energy walked away with two Cambay basin blocks while Focus Energy beat Reliance Industries to bag an area in Rajasthan.

The remaining five blocks were recommended for award to companies like Sankalp Oil and Natural Resources, Pratibha Oil and Natural Gas Pvt Ltd and Pan India Consultants.

Sources said the ECS recommended rejection of single bids for eight blocks where profit from petroleum offered to the government ranged between 6.6 per cent to 6.7 per cent. It sought assessment of net worth of top bidder for three blocks in Cambay and Rajasthan before awarding them.

ECS suggested rejecting bids by RIL and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) for the Andaman sea block as they had offered “very low” profit share to the government.

It also wanted the bid by a consortium of ONGC-OIL and GAIL for deepsea block GS-DWN-2010/1 and that of ONGC-OIL-BPRL for Kerala-Konkan deepwater block KK-DWN-2010/1 also rejected as they offered very low profit share.

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