Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Govt receives 69 bids for 20 oil blocks
By agencies
|
Wednesday, 01 June 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: The Government has received 69 bids from 48 global and domestic majors, including BP and Reliance Industries to participate in the oil exploration activity under the fifth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP V) for 20 oil exploration blocks.
Petronas Carigali of Malaysia, Cairn Energy of Scotland, Niko Resources Ltd of Canada and Suntera Resources Ltd of Russia are among the 27 foreign companies that have bid either on their own or as consortium members in the fifth round.
Besides, there are at least 18 foreign companies among the 27 that have bid for the first time under the NELP including BP, Petrobas of Brazil, ENI S.p.a. of Italy, Hunt Oil of the UK, KUFPEC of Kuwait and Zakros Holdings Ltd of Cyprus.
In addition, 21 Indian companies have bid either on their own or as a consortium including Reliance India Ltd, Tata Petrodyne Ltd, HPCL, BPCL, IOC, Adani Exports Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd. There are also 11 Indian companies that have bid for the first time under the NELP.
The Government is expected to take all the necessary decisions and announce the awards by July 31 this year and hopes to get the contracts signed by end-September this year.
The largest number of bids received are from Reliance which has bid for 12 of the 20 blocks, followed by ONGC which bid for 10 and Oil India Ltd which put in a bid for six blocks.
While ONGC and OIL have formed four different consortia with foreign companies, IOC has formed one consortia with a foreign company, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mani Shankar Aiyar said.
"I must confess that this has exceeded my expectations. The number of foreign companies bidding in this round is likely to exceed the total number during all the previous rounds. This shows the very high level of confidence in prospects for India," the Minister said.