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India awards 31 small oil and gas blocks

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH, part of the Ministry of Oil) of India has approved the award of operating licenses for 31 small oil and gas blocks (44 fields) to 23 companies, as part of an auction for 67 small oil and gas fields (46 contract areas) opened in May 2016. India received bids for 34 of 46 oil and gas fields. This will raise Rs 46,000 core in revenues (US$6.9bn), of which Rs 9,600 crore (US$1.4bn) in government revenues, over 15 years.



The auction was the first in five years and was aimed at boosting oil and gas production from small fields that have remained undeveloped for years due to limited reserves. The awarded fields are estimated to hold 40 Mt of oil and 22 bcm of gas of in-place reserves. A total of 69 fields, which used to belong to oil producers ONGC and Oil India Ltd, were taken away by the government in 2015 to be re-auctioned; two fields in the north-east were not included of the auction.



India aims to reduce oil import dependence from around 80% to 67% by 2022.