New Delhi: Breaking away from a trend where mostly public sector undertakings (PSUs) were bidding for and securing blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), the latest bid round (Round IX) has received more bids from the private sector than PSUs. While Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has bid for 19 blocks, Oil India Limited (OIL) has bid for nine blocks. On the other hand, Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta has submitted bids for all 28 blocks on offer, Sun Petrochemicals has bid for seven blocks, taking the total number of bids from the private sector to 35.
According to bid details released by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), one of the blocks on the list in Gujarat offshore has received bids from a public-private consortium comprising ONGC, Reliance and BP. This block has received only one other bid from Vedanta Ltd. This is a Category-II basin, which means it has contingent resources pending commercial production. It has an area of 5,453.96 square kilometres.
Out of the total 19 blocks for which ONGC has submitted bids, 14 bids have been placed by ONGC alone. For four other blocks, it has bid with partners such as OIL and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). One bid has been placed by ONGC along with Reliance and BP. At a recent event, ONGC Chairman Arun Kumar Singh had termed 2024 as the ‘year of collaborations’ for the oil and gas major. The Maharatna PSU is struggling to reverse a decline in its output and is seeking to collaborate with private companies in India and abroad to develop and monetise its fields as soon as possible.
Most of the 28 blocks on offer have received a minimum of two and a maximum of three bids. The OALP bid round-IX is the biggest oil and gas bid round, with areas spread over 1.36 lakh square kilometre on offer.
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