The government of India has signed production sharing contracts on 13 of 16 exploration blocks awarded in the ninth bid round under the country’s new exploration licensing policy.
The government had received 74 bids for 33 of the 34 blocks offered. Of the 16 blocks just awarded, 14 are onshore and two are in shallow water. Bids for 10 other blocks were rejected as giving the government too low a percentage of profit petroleum. The government also judged inadequate the net worth of the single bidder for the CB-ONN-2010/7 block and rejected that bid.
Three of the 16 PSCs weren’t signed because the bidder could not be present. The other six blocks will be considered for award separately, the government said.
The 13 most recent signings bring the number of signed PSCs under the NELP program to 248.
