The government will launch the fourth round of oilfield auctions on Tuesday under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme as India aims to cut oil imports by 10 percent by 2022 to reduce its import bill.
Seven on-land blocks, spread across three sedimentary basins with an area of approximately 18,500 square kilometers, are on offer in this round, a press statement by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said.
Bidders will be able to submit their bids through an online e-bidding portal starting Aug. 27, 2019 and the bidding round would continue till noon of Oct. 31, 2019.
The government expects that the fourth round to generate “immediate investment” of around $200-250 million for exploration work, the statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has set a target of cutting oil import bill by 10 percent by 2022 and to half by 2030.
“With the release of notice inviting offer (NIO), bidders can study the data available in National Data Repository and select blocks for the bidding,” the statement said.
The Open Acreage Licensing Programme replaces an old system where the government would carve out areas and bid them out. The Open Acreage Licensing Programme was launched with an effort to offer more liberal and attractive terms to bidders including a single license for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons, including shale and the ability to carve out their own blocks. It also provides a simplified revenue-sharing model along with marketing and pricing freedom.
The older NELP model had a profit-sharing structure, allowing companies to first recover their capital and operating expenditure before sharing the profits with the government.
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