Indian oil ministry’s bid round for small discovered oil fields, which closed on Monday, received 134 bids for 34 contract areas, majority of those for onshore areas. Out of 42 companies taking part, only five were foreign players.
To remind, the country had offered 46 contract areas across 9 sedimentary basins, for development.
“The bid round took place in a challenging global market environment when the oil & gas prices have been volatile and the investment in the exploration & production sector has seen substantial decline,” the oil and gas ministry said in a statement.
The ministry has described the bidding round response as “very favorable” and exceeding expectations “of all experts.”
“It has not only attracted the interest of the oil & gas companies but also attracted the interest of the first time investors in E&P sector,” the ministry said.
Out of the total 134 e-bids received, 120 e-bids were received for onshore areas and 14 e-bids were received for offshore areas.
Despite smaller contract areas on offer in the this bid round, the response from private companies was, according to the ministry, overwhelming, with 37 private sector players submitting e-bids.
The ministry said that, considering the fact that most of bidders were private players, response to onshore contract areas were much larger than that for offshore contract area.
In its statement on Monday the ministry further said the evaluation of the bids would be undertaken in a time bound manner and it is expected that the contract areas would be awarded expeditiously.
“The Government endeavors to award the contract areas at the earliest, so as to expedite the monetization of the hydrocarbon production from these fields,” the ministry concluded.
Offshore Energy Today Staff