India inks deals for oil, gas and CBM blocks
Indian ministry of petroleum and natural gas has signed contracts for 10 oil and gas blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-VIII, along with three coalbed methane (CBM) blocks awarded under the Special CBM Bid Round-SCBM 2022, it announced on January 3.
These 10 blocks were awarded to four companies. State-owned ONGC won seven blocks while Reliance-BP consortium, state-run Oil India and Sun Petrochemicals successfully bagged one block each. The total estimated investments for the committed exploration work programme in these awarded blocks are approximately $233mn.
Under the Special CBM Bid Round-SCBM 2022, 16 CBM blocks were made available for bidding across seven states, encompassing an area of 5,817 km2. Two companies successfully acquired rights for three blocks, with the estimated investment for exploration work programmes reaching $7.4mn.
Simultaneously, the ministry launched the OALP-IX Bid Round, offering 28 blocks covering an area of approximately 1,36,596 km2 for competitive bidding. This initiative aims to attract further investments, promote exploration, and bolster domestic energy production.