The Indian upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) will launch the country's second exploration round under the country's Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) on 7 January 2019. 14 blocks spread across 7 basins (Rajasthan, Cambay, Gujarat-Kutch, Cauvery, Andaman, Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi) will be available, potentially holding combined undiscovered resources estimated at 14,995 Mtoe.
The first round of this kind was concluded in August 2018 and India-based private owned mining company Vedanta won 41 out of the 55 offered blocks. Oil India won 9 blocks and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) only 2. The remainder was spread among state-run GAIL (the upstream arm of Bharat Petroleum Corporation) and Hindustan Petroleum, which were awarded 1 block each.
OALP rounds are expected to unlock the country's potential and reduce its oil import dependence from the current 80% to 67% by 2022 and to 50% by 2030.