ONGC, RIL make most bids for oil

19 August 1999

The Oil and Natural Gas Commission, the public sector exploration company, and Reliance Industries Ltd have made the highest number of bids for the 48 oil blocks identified by the government of India for oil exploration under the new exploration and licensing policy, or nelp.

ONGC has bid for 15 oil blocks, and Reliance for 14.

Reliance Industries and Canadian company Nyco Resources jointly bid for blocks in the Bombay Offshore region, Kerala-Konkan basin, Kutch, North-East coast and Krishna-Godavari. Cairn Energy India, which recently struck oil along with Shell India, is the second largest private sector bidder, having made offers for three blocks in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

Of the 48 oil blocks opened for exploration under the NELP scheme, bids were received for only 27 oil blocks. The remaining 21 blocks failed to attract bidders as the directorate general of hydrocarbons has not updated the relevant information. Exploration blocks on offer include deep-water exploration for 12 blocks, offshore projects for 26 and 10 blocks for inland exploration.

Public sector companies Oil India Limited and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company have bid for two blocks each. HOEC has bid with Gujarat-based company Sri Vasavi. Public sector refining company Indian Oil Corporation has bid for six blocks, in its first move into exploration. Five of these are with ONGC and one with Malaysian company Petronas, for exploration in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

In the north-east region, the Gas Authority of India Limited has teamed up with Russian gas giant Gazprom to bid for a block, while the US-based Grynberg Petroleum has bid for two blocks in Assam and Rajasthan.