Government allocates 44 oil, gas blocks under NELP-VII

22 December 2008

Oil exploration groups, including the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation-BHP Billiton-GVK Power combine and Reliance Industries-BP Plc joint venture, today signed oil and gas exploration contracts for 44 oil blocks, under a production sharing agreement with the government.

A total of 45 bids were received for 57 blocks on offer in the auction. Cairn Energy's bid for a Mumbai basin deepwater block was, however, rejected.

The groups have committed a minimum initial investment of $1.5 billion  under the seventh bid round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP).

The phase I investment commitment includes $321.15 million for exploration in deepsea, $598.255 million for exploration in shallow waters and $572.75 million for onland blocks, officials said.

ONGC and its partners signed production sharing contracts for the maximum number of 20 oil and gas exploration blocks they won in the country's largest ever international bid round.

BHP Billiton and GVK Power, first-timers for the NELP bidding, signed agreements for seven deepsea blocks while the Reliance Industries-BP alliance  could manage only one Krishna-Godavari basin block.