Award of remaining Exploration Blocks under ninth bid round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the following after considering the submissions made by Ishar Gasoil Pvt. Ltd., the view of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) and recommendations of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS):

(i) Rejection of bids of Ishar Gasoil Pvt. Ltd. for three blocks RJ-ONN-2010/1, GV-ONN-2012/1 and CB-ONN-2010/2 due to negative net worth. Since there is no other bidder for the block GV-ONN-2012/1, this block will not be awarded at all.

(ii) Award of block RJ-ONN-2010/1 to the Consortium of GAIL (India) Ltd. Bharat Petro Resources Limited (BPRL), BF Infrastructure Limited (BFIL) and Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited (MIEL).

(iii) Award of Block CB-ONN-2010/2 to Consortium of Deep Energy LLC (DEL), Deep Natural Resources Limited (DNRL) and Safal WSB Energy Private Limited (SWEPL).

Background:

The Government of India launched the ninth bid round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX) on 15.10.2010. 34 blocks covering an area of about 88,807 sq. kms were offered under NELP-IX. The offered blocks included - eight deepwater blocks, seven shallow water blocks and 19 onland blocks. Bids were opened by DGH on 28.3.2011. A total of 74 bids were received for 33 blocks from national oil companies and private/foreign companies for 33 exploration blocks (8 deepwater blocks, 6 shallow water blocks and 19 onland blocks). No bid was received for one exploration block in shallow water. The 74 bids received for 33 blocks were evaluated by DGH as per the Notice Inviting Offers (NIO) / Bid Evaluation Criteria (BEC).

The CCEA in its meeting held on 23.3.2012 approved the award of 16 blocks and rejected bids for 11 blocks. Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) were signed for 13 blocks on 28.3.2012. Three blocks were awarded to Sankalp Oil and Natural Resources Ltd. Sankalp Oil and Natural Resources Ltd signed PSC on 27.6.2012 for one block CB-ONN-2010/10 only and declined to sign PSCs for two blocks CB-ONN-2010/8 and CB-ONN-2010/9. CCEA in its meeting held in August 2012 approved the award of five blocks. Out of five awarded blocks, PSCs were signed for four blocks on 30.08.2012 and one PSC was signed on 10.09.2012.

The decision will accelerate exploration and production activities in the country and is expected to result in hydro-carbon reserve accretion, thereby, increasing the energy security of the country.