The government of India has signed production sharing contracts on 13 of 16 exploration blocks awarded in the ninth bid round under the country’s new exploration licensing policy.
The government had received 74 bids for 33 of the 34 blocks offered. Of the 16 blocks just awarded, 14 are onshore and two are in shallow water. Bids for 10 other blocks were rejected as giving the government too low a percentage of profit petroleum. The government also judged inadequate the net worth of the single bidder for the CB-ONN-2010/7 block and rejected that bid.
Three of the 16 PSCs weren’t signed because the bidder could not be present. The other six blocks will be considered for award separately, the government said.
The 13 most recent signings bring the number of signed PSCs under the NELP program to 248.
Alan Petzet | Chief Editor Exploration
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
