Some of the international giants like Shell, Mobil, Exxon, Amoco and Unocal are, however, missing from the list of bidders. But industry sources described the bids for the 48 oil blocks on offer as the most enthusiastic since the private sector was invited to invest in oil exploration at home. According to a think tank in Government, the response to the bids proved that ``India still remained an attractive destination for a risky venture like oil exploration.''

Among the 10 foreign companies that have put in their bids are Petronas of Malaysia, OAO Gazprom of Russia, Enron of the US, and Cairn Energy of Ausralia. Most of these companies are joint-venture partners with Indian companies.

Also among the bidders are Energy Equity India Petroleum Pty Ltd of Australia, Niko Resources Ltd of Canada, Geopetrol International Inc of Panama, Grynberg PetroleumCompany (RSM Production Corporation, US) and South Asia Oil and Gas Plc-Australia. Mosbacher India LLC of the US, which was awarded a discovered oilfield before, has bid for an exploration block this time.

Domestic private sector companies keen on oil exploration include Reliance Industries and Hindustan Oil Exploration Corporation (HOEC). Both Reliance and HOEC are already in the business of oil exploration and production.

The other Indian bidders include Enpro India Ltd, Geoenpro Petroleum Ltd, Sri Vasavi India Ltd, and Shri Sarita Synthetics Ltd. Predictably, the country's largest oil exploration and production company, the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India Ltd, downstream major Indian Oil, and the Gas Authority of India Ltd (Gail), have put in bids for the NELP oil blocks.

The Gujarat State Petroleum Company is among the bidders too, as in the previous rounds. The NELP round of bidding is unique, since the public sector undertakings (PSUs) have to compete with the private sector onequal terms for the first time.

The investor response from 10 overseas companies, six Indian private sector companies and five PSUs, was mostly for offshore blocks on the east coast, including seven deep water blocks. The 12 deep water blocks on offer were among the 15 new blocks included in the NELP round of bidding.

Oil companies also showed interest in 16 shallow water blocks, mostly in the Krishna-Godavari and Cauvery basins. Only four of the 10 onland blocks on offer attracted investor interest, of which one is in the north-east, two in Rajasthan (where Shell India made an oil strike recently), and one in the Ganga Valley.

The Government's plans for the 21 oil blocks that did not attract any bids are not clear at this juncture. The Directorate General for Hydrocarbonsis is expected to upgrade the information available on the blocks. At any rate, say sources, ``there certainly will be more rounds of bidding for the NELP blocks.''

A release says the evaluation of the bids would be ``in a time-boundfashion.'' The main criteria for evaluating the bids will be the ``technical and financial capability of the bidding companies/consortia.'' In assessing the bids, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons will consider the minimum work programme commitment of the companies, profit petroleum sharing with the government and the cost recovery limit bid for by the potential investors.

The NELP offers better terms to oil exploration companies than ever before, in the form of concessions in tax and royalty payment.