Govt signed contracts for 10 blocks under Open Acreage Licensing Policy

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) signed contracts for 10 blocks awarded under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-VIII and 3 Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Blocks awarded under Special CBM Bid Round-SCBM 2022.

In this bid round, 28 blocks, with an area of approximately 1,36,596 Sq. Km., are on offer for bidding.

The Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri while launching the bid said it is a crucial step in ensuring India’s energy security. He mentioned that vast offshore acreage of more than 1 Million Sq. Km. has been made available in the recent past for E&P operations which were earlier so-called ‘No-Go’ areas. 

He said that currently, only 10 per cent of the Indian Sedimentary Basin Area is under active exploration, however, with the initiatives of the Government, more areas will come under exploration and it is estimated that after awarding of blocks under forthcoming OALP-IX and X Bid Rounds, about 5,60,000 sq. km. area  (16 per cent)  will come under exploration by the end of the year 2024.

According to a government release, a total of 13 bids were received for all 10 blocks. These 10 blocks were awarded to 4 Companies. The estimated investments in awarded blocks for the committed exploration work programme is about $233 Million.

Under Special CBM Round-2022, a total of 16 CBM blocks were offered for bidding which spread across 7 States covering an area of 5817 Sq. Km. A total of 6 bids were received for 3 blocks with an area of 717 Sq. Km. These 3 blocks were awarded to 2 Companies. Estimated investments in awarded blocks for the committed exploration work programme are to the tune of $7.4 Million. 

Secretary, MoPNG, Pankaj Jain, highlighted the importance of the signing of contracts for awarding blocks under OALP and the launch of the OALP-IX Bid Round. He said that the size of bidding round IX is expected to be much bigger.

Speaking at the event, DG, DGH, Dr. Pallavi Jain Govil said that the OALP -IX Bid Round bears a special significance as many of the offshore blocks on offer are in hydrocarbon-rich basin areas which were earlier out of bound for E & P activities due to restrictions posed by different agencies.

As a major reform in the E&P sector, the Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP) was approved in March 2016. In continuation of its determination to reduce import dependency on oil and gas and accelerate E&P activities, the Government notified further policy reforms in the upstream sector in February 2019 and again in May 2023 with a focus on shifting from ‘revenue’ to ‘production’ maximization. There is also a continued focus on greater transparency and streamlined procedures.