The government has put up 11 blocks for bidding under the fifth round of the new Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP).

“In continuation of its aggressive acceleration of exploration and production activities and adhering to the prescribed timelines, the government has now launched Bid Round V for international competitive didding,” the director general of hydrocarbons said in a statement.

“In this round, 11 blocks with an area of around 19,800 sq km are on offer for bidding,” it added.

The fifth round is expected to generate around $400-450 million as exploration work commitment. The bidders would be able to submit their bids through an online e-bidding portal till March 18, 2020.

The 11 blocks under OALP round V are spread across eight sedimentary basins and include eight onland blocks, two shallow water blocks and one ultra deepwater block.

Under the new OALP bidding round, an upstream player will be allowed to explore both conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources, including coal bed methane, shale gas and oil and gas hydrates under a single licence.

In OALP, the contractor will have the freedom to price and market the gas in the domestic market on arms-length basis.

Earlier this month, the government had awarded seven blocks under the fourth round of OALP to state-owned ONGC. The round did not elicit any response from private players.