The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), India’s upstream regulator, is offering 26 oil and gas blocks and 16 coal bed methane blocks in the country’s 9th and latest exploration licensing round. Out of the 26 oil and gas blocks, 15 are ultra-deep-water blocks, 8 are shallow water blocks, and 3 are onshore blocks. They cover an area of 223,000 km2.
In a previous exploration licensing round in 2021, India offered 21 blocks comprising 15 onshore blocks, 4 shallow water blocks and 2 ultra-deep-water blocks, over an area of 35,300 km2. 18 blocks were awarded to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGCL), 2 to Oil India Limited and 1 to Sun Petrochemicals. In total, seven licensing rounds have been concluded with 134 exploration blocks awarded. An 8th round offering 10 blocks was launched in July 2022 with the results still pending.
In 2019, India passed the Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP), which adopts the revenue sharing contract model. The policy also includes terms like reduced royalty rates, no Oil Cess, marketing and pricing freedom, round the year bidding, freedom to investors for carving out blocks of their interest, a single license to cover both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources, exploration permission during the entire contract period, and an easy, transparent and swift bidding and awarding process.
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