2nd round of oil field auctions soon: Dharmendra Pradhan

India will soon launch the second round of auction of discovered oil and gas fields of state- owned ONGC and Oil India Ltd, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

As contracts for 31 small discovered oil and gas fields auctioned in the first bid round in more than six years were signed, he said a nation that is 80 per cent import dependent cannot afford to see its largest lease holder sit idle. "There has to be accountability (for ONGC)," he said at the signing ceremony.

The government, he said, is also looking at giving incentives for enhanced and improved oil recovery schemes to help reverse the declining trend in output from ageing fields. "Discovered Small Fields (DSF) round-II is coming soon," he said. Also, on cards is production enhancement contract (PEC) for producing fields of ONGC where operations can be outsourced after setting a minimum benchmark output level.