The Modi government has extended the ninth round of bidding for oil and gas blocks (OALP) to May 15, amidst lacklustre response from explorers.
The open acreage licensing programme (OALP) regime offers pricing and marketing freedoms to successful bidders.
Officials said the last date of the latest bidding round has been extended to May 15 from February 29.
The government has offered eight blocks spread over 0.42 lakh sq km for exploration and production (E&P) of hydrocarbons.
Of the eight blocks, three are in the Cauvery basin, two each in Saurashtra and Assam Shelf and one in the Cambay basin. While six blocks are spread over Category-I basins, the other two are in Category-II.
Category–I basins have proven hydrocarbon resources and established commercial production; Category–II have contingent resources that are yet to be converted to recoverable reserves and commercial production. Category–III basins have prospective resources with no hydrocarbon discovery and few exploration inputs and data.
In the ninth OLAP round, three blocks each are in ultra-deep deep-water (27,154 sq. km) and onland (3,666 sq. km), while another two blocks are in shallow water (11,039 sq.km.).
In the last bidding round, ONGC and Oil India collectively secured eight of the 10 oil and gas blocks. A consortium of Reliance Industries (RIL) and BP as well as Sun Petrochemicals secured a block each. While ONGC secured the highest seven blocks, OIL secured one block.
An upstream player will now be allowed to explore both conventional and unconventional resources, including coal bed methane, shale gas under a single licence.
