India's biggest oil, gas bid round gets 4 bidders; Reliance-bp-ONGC bid together

New Delhi: India's biggest oil and gas bid round attracted four bidders that included state-owned ONGC and OIL and private sector Vedanta Ltd, with most blocks getting just two bids, according to Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).

The OALP-IX bid round, where 28 blocks or areas spread over 1.36 lakh square kilometre were offered for finding and producing oil and gas, for the first time saw Reliance Industries Ltd-bp plc combine bidding together with ONGC for one block in Gujarat offshore.

Reliance and its supermajor partner bp plc had bid in just two of the past eight oil and gas bid rounds since 2017. Reliance-bp combine had bid and won the two blocks they had bid for in the previous rounds and this is the first time they have teamed up with ONGC to bid for a shallow water block in the Gujarat-Saurashtra basin.

In the previous eighth round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-VIII), state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had not bid for the ultra deepsea Krishna Godavari basin block that Reliance-bp combine had sought.

The DGH on Monday released the names of the bidders for the 28 blocks offered under the OALP-IX round, bids for which closed on September 21.

ONGC bid for 14 blocks alone and with partners such as state-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for four other blocks. After considering its bid with Reliance-bp, ONGC in all bids for 19 out of the 28 blocks on offer.

Mining billionaire Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Ltd bid for all the 28 blocks on offer while Sun Petrochemicals Ltd bid for seven areas.

Of the 28 blocks on offer, four blocks got three bids each while the rest had two bidders, one being Vedanta Ltd.

Blocks are awarded to firms offering the highest share of revenues generated from oil and gas produced from the blocks and the work programme they commit to.

Of the 28 blocks offered in OALP-IX, nine are onshore blocks, eight shallow-water blocks and 11 ultra-deepwater blocks across eight sedimentary basins, with an area of 136,596.45 sq km.

In the previous eight OALP rounds, 144 exploration and production blocks comprising a total area of 242,055 sq km have been awarded. In the last round (OALP-VIII) where 10 blocks were offered, state-owned ONGC won seven blocks while a private-sector consortium of Reliance Industries and bp, Oil India and private-sector Sun Petrochemicals received one block each.

The government introduced the OALP in 2017 to attract oil and gas firms to develop India's upstream sector. The OALP guarantees marketing and pricing freedom with a revenue-sharing model, apart from offering reduced royalty rates.

Reliance and bp have more than a decade-old partnership and are partners in KG deepsea block KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 from where they produce about 30 million standard cubic meters per day of gas.

The government has been hoping that opening up more acreage for exploration will help boost India's oil and gas production, helping cut down the USD 222 billion oil import bill.

In 2016, it brought in an open acreage policy which moved away from the previous practice of government identifying and bidding out blocks to one where explorers were allowed the freedom to identify any area outside of the ones that are already with some company or other, for prospecting of oil and gas.

The areas identified are to be clubbed twice a year and offered for bidding. The firm identifying the area gets a 5-point advantage.

But except for the first round, private sector participation has been scant. Mining mogul Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd walked away with 41 blocks out of the 55 blocks on offer in the very first round and got another 10 areas in two subsequent rounds.

Other rounds have been dominated by state-owned firms.