India Starts Marginal Fields Round

India on August 9 offered 59 oil and gas blocks for auction under its second round of the Discovered Small Field Policy (DSF-II) during an event in New Delhi presided by oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The 59 marginal fields have been grouped into 25 contract areas, the auctions for which will start in September and end in December. These fields hold 1.39bn barrels of oil equivalent of in place reserves (oil and gas). On offer are 15 onshore areas and 10 shallow water areas.

“The successful completion of DSF-I gives us immense confidence on the upcoming discoveries under DSF-II,” Pradhan said on Twitter: “The launch of DSF-II is at a very opportune moment where there is growing optimism and global interest in India’s hydrocarbon sector.”

India launched the DSF-I in 2016, with the motive for extracting oil and gas from the unmonetised small oil and gas discoveries that are available in the country. During DSF-I India offered 67 discovered small oil and gas discoveries, grouped into 46 contract areas spread over nine sedimentary basins in onshore, shallow water and deep water areas.