State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on Thursday invited bids from private companies to hand over the operations of 43 small and marginal oil and gas fields in a bid to maximise production.

The 43 onland fields have been clustered into 11 contract areas that will be bid out to companies offering the highest oil and gas output on top of a pre-decided baseline, the company said in a statement.

In June 2019, ONGC had invited similar bids for 64 fields that were clustered into 17 contract areas. The bid round did not generate much interest.

“ONGC announces notice inviting offer (NIO) seeking partners to enhance production from its marginal nomination fields in line with its goal of maximising recovery from its producing fields,” the statement said.

The fields on offer have a total in-place oil and oil equivalent gas volume of about 160 million tonnes. “These contract areas are spread across Gujarat, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh,” it said.

The 64 fields offered in 2019 held a cumulative 300 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent natural gas reserves.

“Eligible companies (Indian or foreign), either alone or in consortium with other companies, may bid for one or more contract areas,” the statement said, adding the bidders are required to fulfill the requisite technical and financial criteria.

The last date for bidding is December 3.