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The ninth round of oil and gas block auctions saw 10 new players making their entry. The public sector hydrocarbons major ONGC emerged the front-runner in 10 of the 26 blocks it bid.
For the 34 exploration blocks offered, 37 companies bid under the Ninth Round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX). The Government received 74 bids for 33 blocks during the auction that closed here on Monday. One offshore block did not receive any bid.
Speaking to media persons after the bids were submitted, Mr S Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, termed the response “more than satisfactory”.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) was the provisional winner in two of the six blocks it bid for. Cairn India, which had bid for two blocks, was not so successful, however; it bagged none.
Mr Reddy said that “a total of 37 companies, comprising eight foreign companies and 29 Indian, have bid either on their own or as part of a consortia. The Government's desire to enhance the number of players in the E&P sector has been achieved as is evident from the fact that 10 new companies (two foreign and eight Indian) have bid either on their own or in a consortium.”
“Evaluation of the bids received under NELP-IX will be undertaken by the Government and the blocks are expected to be awarded within three months. The entire process, including signing of contracts, is expected to be completed in four months,” he added.
NELP-IX was launched on October 15, 2010. On offer are are eight deepwater blocks, seven shallow water blocks, 11 on-land blocks and eight Type-S blocks.
Front-runners amongst bidders include BG, which teamed up with BHP Billiton, Essar Oil, Oil India Ltd, and Deep Energy LLC, Pratibha Oil & Natural Gas Pvt Ltd, Ishar Gas Oil Pvt Ltd, Sankalp Oil and Natural Resources Ltd and Chinar Commerce Pvt Ltd.
As regards investments expected, official sources said, “India got an investment commitment of $1.1 billion in NELP-VIII and it is expecting to better that.” Cambay Basin on-land blocks in Gujarat were the most sought after. One block got six bids. Bidders included Reliance, Essar Oil, ONGC-OIL-HPCL and a GAIL-Bharat PetroResources-EIL-Bharat Forge consortium. Essar Oil emerged the front-runner.
Three blocks in Cambay Basin and two in Rajasthan got five bids each.
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