Oil and Gas blocks bidding round: ONGC, Reliance-BP among winners
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas conducted the bidding round for 10 blocks for exploration and production of oil and gas in the eighth round of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-VIII). Government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) won 7 areas for oil and gas exploration.
Reliance Industries Ltd and BP Plc consortium walked away with one block. The bidding saw limited private sector participation, with notable exclusions of global energy majors. Among others, Oil India Ltd and Sun Petrochemicals Pvt Ltd have one area each. Further 3 coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks too were awarded and the ninth round of OALP was launched for bidding.