India offering 14 blocks in OALP-2

Jan. 7, 2019
Oil and gas operators may submit bids until Mar. 12 for 14 blocks in India offered under the government’s second round in its Open Acreage Licensing Program (OALP). The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas opened OALP-2 bidding on Jan. 7.

Oil and gas operators may submit bids until Mar. 12 for 14 blocks in India offered under the government’s second round in its Open Acreage Licensing Program (OALP).

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas opened OALP-2 bidding on Jan. 7.

It’s offering nearly 30,000 sq km under revenue-sharing terms introduced in 2016 with its Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, which replaced the New Exploration Licensing Policy.

Operators nominated 10 of the blocks newly on offer. The government added four blocks on the basis of data from a seismic program and resource assessment.

Eight of the blocks are onshore, four in the Mahanadi basin in Odisha, two in the Cambay basin in Gujarat, and one each in the Rajasthan basin of Rajasthan and Cauvery basin in Tamil Nadu.

Two offshore blocks each are offered in the Andaman and Kutch basins, and one offshore block each is offered in the Krishna Godavari and Mahanadi basins.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons takes bids through an electronic portal and provides bidding instructions.

The ministry said it expects to launch a third OALP round, offering 23 onshore and offshore blocks covering about 32,000 sq km, “within the next few weeks.”

After the first OALP bidding round, it signed contracts for 55 blocks covering 59,000 sq km with six operators, all from India (OGJ Online, Oct. 1, 2018).