Special CBM Bid Round: Bidding for 15 CBM blocks to start on Feb 15, says DGH

• Bidding for these CBM blocks will start on February 15 and end on March 15
• Under the Special CBM Bid Round, the government has offered 15 blocks spread across six states 

New Delhi: The government is set to offer 15 coal bed methane (CBM) blocks in the latest round of auctions under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). Bidding for these CBM blocks will start on February 15 and end on March 15, the DGH added. The Special CBM Bid Round 2021 was launched in September 2021 and the bids were originally due on February 20 this year, however, the deadline was extended.

"Bid submission for Special CBM Bid Round-2021 will start on 15th February, 2022 and end on 15th March, 2022," DGH said in a notifcation. This is the first CBM bid round in more than a decade as the last round was held in 2010.

"Companies are invited to bid for exploration, development and monetisation of fifteen (15) CBM blocks likely to contain both conventional and/or unconventional hydrocarbon resources, distributed in the sedimentary basins of India. A total of fifteen (15) Onland Blocks are on offer," it added.

Special CBM bid round: 15 blocks spread across 6 states on offer

Under the Special CBM Bid Round, the government has offered 15 blocks spread across six states — Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (MP), West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The highest number of CBM blocks on offer are in the state of MP — five. Three blocks are on offer in Chhattisgarh, while Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha have two blocks up for sale each, followed by one in West Bengal. 

All the 15 blocks are in Category-III basins that hold prospective resources to be explored and discovered. This means that no revenue sharing is required until windfall gain, said the DGH.

Under the current CBM round, bidders offering maximum exploration work will be awarded the block, the DGH said.

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