Thirty-four contract areas received bids in India’s effort to develop small fields, according to the country's Press Information Bureau. Forty-six contract areas were offered across nine sedimentary basins.
PIB said the response to the Discovered Small Fields Bid Round “has been very favorable and exceeded expectations of all experts.”
Individually or as members of a bid consortium, 42 companies submitted a total of 134 electronic bids to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons by the Nov. 21 deadline. PIB said 120 bids are for onshore areas and 14 offshore.
All 26 onshore contract areas received bids while 8 of 20 offshore areas received bids.
The fields have been discovered by India’s national oil companies, and the bid round is part of an effort to reduce India’s oil imports by 10% by 2022.
The Discovered Small Fields Policy “is designed to be investor friendly” and is based on an “easy-to-administer” revenue-sharing contract model (OGJ Online, May 24, 2016).
Road shows to attract investors to the bid round took place in India, the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, and UAE.
