India offers 20 blocks for oil, gas exploration

Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India Tuesday offered 20 blocks, including six deepwater blocks, for exploration of oil and gas under the fifth round of its new exploration licensing policy (NELP). Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar expressed confidence about attracting good response from prospective investors both within and overseas, given the good discoveries in several of 90 exploration blocks awarded in the first four rounds. "The NELP-V round has been launched in the backdrop of huge oil and gas discoveries made by Reliance Industries (RIL) and Niko Resources in Krishna-Godavari deepwaters, by Cairn Energy in Barmer district of Rajasthan and by RIL in northeast coast offshore," Aiyar told a news conference here. The six new deepwater blocks are in the Kerala-Konkan, Mahanadi, Andaman-Nicobar and Krishna-Godavari basins. RIL's gas discoveries in Krishna-Godavari basin are estimated to have over 14 trillion cubic feet of in-place gas, while Cairn Energy has reported an in-place oil reserve of over 300 million barrels. The new discoveries over the past three years have helped increase the gas reserves by 50 percent. "The new discoveries and enhanced recoveries have helped to fill up the lacunae of depleting production," Aiyar said. Due to increasing consumption, the gap between demand and supply has been widening. It is likely to increase in future such that by 2020, India's domestic supply would meet only 15 percent of expected demand as against 30 percent currently. "Through India's oil finds in the country and overseas through equity participation, we will be able to ensure continuity of supplies," Aiyar said. Of the 20 blocks being offered under NELP-V, the bids for which will close May 31, eight blocks are new while the others are being offered for bidding with new extensive data. Among the new blocks are three on-land in Assam, one each in Deccan syneclise, Cauvery, offshore Gulf of Cambay, deepwater Andaman-Nicobar and Kerala-Konkan. The 20 blocks together cover a sedimentary area of 109,210 sq km. The 12 on-land blocks are in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The petroleum ministry has engaged marketing consultants IndioPool, a subsidiary of Schlumberger, and CWC Associates based in Britain for handling roadshows starting Jan 18 in the capital. Overseas, the roadshows will be held in London, Dubai, Houston, Calgary and Moscow. During the roadshows, presentations will be made on emerging geological prospectivity of Indian basins and the new contractual and fiscal features of the new round of exploration blocks on offer, Aiyar said. In addition to offering the 20 exploration blocks, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will use the opportunity to seek investor participation in 19 marginal fields being offered for service contracts or technical collaboration.
Source: IANS