Biggest Indian oil and gas bid draws four bidders, Reliance-bp and ONGC joins hand

India’s largest oil and gas bidding round attracted four major players, including state-owned ONGC, OIL, and private-sector Vedanta Ltd. Most of the 28 blocks on offer received only two bids, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).

This bid round, the OALP-IX, covered an area of 1.36 lakh square kilometers, with blocks offered for exploration and production of oil and gas.

For the first time, the bid round saw Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner BP PLC joining forces with ONGC to bid for a block in Gujarat offshore. This partnership marks a notable change, as Reliance and BP had only participated in two of the previous eight oil and gas bid rounds since 2017.

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ONGC submitted bids for 14 blocks on its own and partnered with state-owned companies Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for an additional four blocks. In total, ONGC bid for 19 out of the 28 blocks offered, including the one with Reliance.

Under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), blocks are awarded based on the highest revenue share offered by companies and their proposed work programs. This bid round included nine onshore blocks, eight shallow-water blocks, and 11 ultra-deepwater blocks across eight sedimentary basins.

The government launched the OALP in 2017 to encourage oil and gas exploration, offering marketing and pricing freedom under a revenue-sharing model.

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Reliance and bp, long-term partners in the KG-D6 deepsea block, continue to produce 30 million standard cubic meters per day of gas. The government hopes that increased exploration will bolster India’s domestic oil and gas production, helping to curb its $222 billion oil import bill.

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