India offers 23 oil blocks in 12 sedimentary basins in OALP-III bid round

New Delhi: India has offered 23 oil and gas and coal-bed methane blocks for bidding in the third round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OLAP). Last date for bidding is April 10.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the bid  round –III under Open Acreages Licensing Policy (OALP) at Greater Noida, the venue of Petrotech-2019 on Sunday.

“Under this Bid round, 23 blocks, covering over 31,000 sq km od area will be available for exploration,” an official release said.  

“With the launch of the third bidding round, more than 1,20,000sq km of area has now been made  available for exploration in last one year. The OALP adopts all features of HELP - reduced royalty rates, no Oil Cess, uniform licensing system, marketing and pricing freedom, Revenue Sharing Model, Exploration rights on all retained area for full contract life etc,” it added.

Following the contract signing of 55 Blocks under OALP Bid Round-I, the government launched OALP Bid Round-II on January 2019 offering 14 Blocks under Petroleum Operation Contract for International Competitive Bidding.