India to offer 34 oil and gas blocks in ninth round of NELP auction

India will offer 34 blocks in 10 sedimentary basins for exploration in the ninth round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX), minister of petroleum and natural gas Murli Deora said in London today.

These include eight deepwater blocks, seven shallow water blocks, and nineteen inland blocks while the 34 blocks have a total area of 88,807 sq km, he added.

He said the oil exploration and prospecting (E&P) industry has been a success in India with major discoveries like the Barmer field in Rajasthan in which Cairn Energy and ONGC are producing oil. The field, which commenced production in the year 2008, is currently producing about 6 million tonnes of oil per annum. This is expected to go up further and add to 25 per cent of domestic oil production of 2008-09.

Similarly, the gas block operated by Reliance Industries Ltd in the Krishna-Godawari basin achieved a production level of about 60 mmscmd of gas, which has increased the domestic gas production by about 72 per cent over that of 2008-09, he pointed out.

"These notable successes have established that the Indian basins are indeed rich in hydrocarbons," he said.

More than two dozen international E&P companies are currently working in India, which include some prominent British companies, namely, British Gas, British Petroleum, ENI, Cairn Energy, Premier Oil, Hardy Exploration and Production. British Gas has a stake in Panna-Mukta and Tapti production sharing contract, which has been producing oil and gas for 15 years now. British Gas is engaged in the city gas distribution through Mahanagar Gas ltd in Mumbai.