Petroleum Minister Murli Deora announced the offer of 57 oil and gas blocks - nine in shallow water, 19 in deep-sea and 29 onland, in NELP-VII, bids for which will close on April 11, 2008. "This is the largest ever offering and we are expecting good response," he said.
The government had in previous six rounds awarded 162 blocks with an investment commitment over three phases of exploration and production totalling $8.33 billion.
Of this, the largest commitment of $3.32 billion was received in NELP-VI where 52 out of 55 blocks on offer were grabbed.
Under NELP, 49 oil and gas discoveries have already been made in Cambay onland, North East Coast and Krishna Godavari deepwater areas, accreting over 600 million tons of reserves.
Deora said several global players have shown interest in Indian E&P after significant gas discoveries by Reliance Industries, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (ONGC) and oil finds by Cairn India.
While declining to name any specific company that may bid in NELP-VII, he said steel baron Lakshmi N Mittal was likely to participate in collaboration with a domestic consortium.
BG Group of the UK is likely to bid with Oil India Ltd. NELP-VII had been postponed several times. It was originally due in March/April 2007, but the controversy overpricing of gas from blocks won under earlier NELP rounds and shortage of drilling rigs forced the government to defer it several times.
