‘10th round of NELP oil and gas blocks auction this fiscal’
4 Jun 2013 11:13 PM GMT
The government is likely to launch the tenth round of auction under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) this fiscal, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said on Tuesday.
‘DGH has carved out exploration area of about 2.7 lakhs sq km for which process of inter-ministerial clearances has been initiated. On completion of clearance process, exploration blocks are likely to be offered in 2013-14,’ he said addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee in Mussoorie.
While Moily did not indicate the number of blocks to be offered, official said as many as 68 blocks or areas for exploration of oil and gas may be auctioned.
This will be the second-highest offering of block since the advent of New Exploration Licensing Policy 1999. Of the blocks being considered for offering in New Exploration Licensing Policy-X, 25 are deep water, 20 shallow water and 23 onland blocks.
The government has in previous nine rounds awarded 254 blocks for exploration of oil and gas. Last few rounds received tepid response with global majors staying away.
Of the 34 areas offered in New Exploration Licensing Policy-IX in 2010, bids were received for 33 blocks at the close of bidding on 28 March, 2011. Of these, only 19 blocks were awarded.
Moily said that crude oil production in current fiscal is likely to rise to 39.396 million tonnes in current fiscal from 37.762 million tonnes in the last. Nearly 31 per cent of last year’s output came from private firms like Cairn India.
Natural gas production on the other hand is expected to decline to 105 million standard cubic metres per day in 2013-14 from 111.4 mmscmd in the previous fiscal, he said.
The main reason for the dip is lower output from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 field.‘With the fresh investments in E&P sector, natural gas production is likely to further rise by end of 12th five year plan,’ Moily said.New Exploration Licensing Policy-VIII was the largest round with 70 blocks being offered. But only 32 blocks could be awarded. In New Exploration Licensing Policy-VII, 41 blocks out of the 57 areas offered were awarded while NELP-VI was by far the most successful round with 52 out of 55 blocks on offer finding bidders. The first five bid rounds saw award of 107 blocks.
India has an estimated sedimentary area of 3.14 million square kilometres, comprising 26 sedimentary basins. At present 0.93 million sq km area is held under exploration and production in 19 basins.
‘As of now, 73 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas could be established through exploration, out of 205 billion barrels of prognosticated hydrocarbon resources. Thus, about 133 billion barrels of prognosticated resources remain to be unlocked through exploration,’ he said.
‘DGH has carved out exploration area of about 2.7 lakhs sq km for which process of inter-ministerial clearances has been initiated. On completion of clearance process, exploration blocks are likely to be offered in 2013-14,’ he said addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee in Mussoorie.
While Moily did not indicate the number of blocks to be offered, official said as many as 68 blocks or areas for exploration of oil and gas may be auctioned.
This will be the second-highest offering of block since the advent of New Exploration Licensing Policy 1999. Of the blocks being considered for offering in New Exploration Licensing Policy-X, 25 are deep water, 20 shallow water and 23 onland blocks.
The government has in previous nine rounds awarded 254 blocks for exploration of oil and gas. Last few rounds received tepid response with global majors staying away.
Of the 34 areas offered in New Exploration Licensing Policy-IX in 2010, bids were received for 33 blocks at the close of bidding on 28 March, 2011. Of these, only 19 blocks were awarded.
Moily said that crude oil production in current fiscal is likely to rise to 39.396 million tonnes in current fiscal from 37.762 million tonnes in the last. Nearly 31 per cent of last year’s output came from private firms like Cairn India.
Natural gas production on the other hand is expected to decline to 105 million standard cubic metres per day in 2013-14 from 111.4 mmscmd in the previous fiscal, he said.
The main reason for the dip is lower output from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 field.‘With the fresh investments in E&P sector, natural gas production is likely to further rise by end of 12th five year plan,’ Moily said.New Exploration Licensing Policy-VIII was the largest round with 70 blocks being offered. But only 32 blocks could be awarded. In New Exploration Licensing Policy-VII, 41 blocks out of the 57 areas offered were awarded while NELP-VI was by far the most successful round with 52 out of 55 blocks on offer finding bidders. The first five bid rounds saw award of 107 blocks.
India has an estimated sedimentary area of 3.14 million square kilometres, comprising 26 sedimentary basins. At present 0.93 million sq km area is held under exploration and production in 19 basins.
‘As of now, 73 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas could be established through exploration, out of 205 billion barrels of prognosticated hydrocarbon resources. Thus, about 133 billion barrels of prognosticated resources remain to be unlocked through exploration,’ he said.
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