India expects to attract at least $3.5-4 billion of investments in its latest offering of oil and gas exploration blocks under the seventh round of the new exploration licensing policy (Nelp-7), which was launched by petroleum minister Murli Deora on Thursday.
A total of 57 oil and gas blocks are being offered under this round, bids for which will close on April 11, 2008. The blocks to be offered includes nine shallow water, 19 in deep-sea and 29 on land.
The government had in previous six NELP rounds awarded 162 blocks with an investment commitment over three phases of exploration and production totaling $8.33 billion. Of this, the largest commitment of $3.32 billion was received in Nelp-VI where 52 out of 55 blocks on offer were grabbed.
?This is the largest ever offering and we are expecting good response,? Deora said. He said several global players have shown interest in Indian E&P after significant gas discoveries by Reliance Industries, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (ONGC) and oil finds by Cairn India.
While declining to name any specific company that may bid in Nelp-VII, he said steel baron Lakshmi N Mittal was likely to participate in collaboration with a domestic consortium. BG Group of the UK is likely to bid with Oil India Ltd (OIL).
The bid evaluation criteria (BEC) has been changed to give more weightage to companies having experience in deep sea exploration and production.
Under NELP blocks offered so far, 49 oil and gas discoveries have already been made in Cambay onland, North East Coast and Krishna Godavari deepwater areas, accreting over 600 million tons of reserves.
Of the total committed investment of $8.33 billion received in six previous rounds of Nelp, $3.887 billion had already been spent by oil and gas companies till March 2007.
Deora said promotional roadshows for Nelp-VII are planned in Mumbai (January 8, 2008), London (January 24-25), Houston (January 28-29), Calgary (January 31-February 1), Singapore (February 11) and Perth (February 14-15). ?All geo-scientific data has been made available online and data centres have been set up in Delhi, London, Houston, Perth and Calgary,? he said.