A consortium of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Reliance Industries and global energy major bp won for the first time an offshore oil block in Gujarat in the ninth round of bidding under the open acreage licensing policy (OALP). While ONGC won a majority of the blocks — 11 on its own and another four with different partners — Vedanta’s Cairn Oil and Gas won seven oil blocks.
The consortium of ONGC (40%), RIL (30%) and bp (30%) won the GS-OSHP-2022/2 block in the Saurashtra basin. “This strategic collaboration brings together the expertise of India’s largest national oil and gas company, ONGC, the largest Indian conglomerate, Reliance Industries, and global energy major bp. This consortium leverages the strength of all parties and is another step towards strengthening India’s energy security goals,” said a bp spokesperson. The global giant had won the bid to operate ONGC’s flagship Mumbai High field earlier this year.
OALP-IX covered 136,596 sq km across 28 blocks. The government also launched discovered small fields bid round IV, putting on offer 55 discoveries across nine contract areas. It also launched the draft petroleum and natural gas (PNG) rules 2025, operationalising new substantive provisions introduced by the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, including renewal and extension of leases, unitisation of leases, sharing of production and processing facilities, dispute resolution, site restoration, sound management of mineral oils, and decarbonisation.
Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “76% of the total area currently under exploration has been brought under active exploration only since 2014.” The minister announced that OALP-X has already been launched offering 25 blocks across 13 sedimentary basins. In the next two decades, 25% of the world’s incremental energy demand growth will come from India, Puri said.