Bidding deadline for 8th oil and gas exploration round extended to July 5

Deadline for bid submission of eight OALP round extended to July 5

The government has once again deferred the deadline for submission of bids for the eighth oil and gas exploration round under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) from May 16 to July 5, according to a notification by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).

The eight OALP round was launched on July 7, 2022, with the deadline for submitting bids being September 6, 2022. However, this was shifted forward several times without any explanation from the government.

The government is offering 10 blocks in the round spread over nine sedimentary basins, covering an area of 36,316.5 sq km.

It has also approved several modifications in the bid documents of the eight OALP round. According to the DGH notification, the government has approved larger acreage areas for companies and modifications in bidding parameters, evaluation criteria and exploration timelines.

Deadline for submitting bids for the coal bed methane (CBM) round has also been extended to June 30 from May 1. The CBM round was launched on October 10 last year.

To increase domestic exploration and production activities in India, the government is actively reaching out to companies to invest in sedimentary basins.

The government has so far conducted seven OALP rounds and awarded 134 exploration and production blocks covering over 2,07,691 square kilometres of area across 19 sedimentary basins.