Oil Ministry launches seventh round for auction of oil and gas blocks

Since 2016, five rounds of Open Acreage Licensing Programme blocks have been concluded and 105 for Exploration and Production.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has launched the seventh bid round under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP).

Eight blocks are being bid out under the round, said an official statement Tuesday. These include five on-land blocks (four in Category-I Basin and one in Category-III Basin), two shallow water blocks (both in Category-I Basin) and one ultra-deep-water block (Category-I Basin). "It is expected that OALP Round VII would generate an immediate exploration work commitment of around $ 300-400 million," the statement said.

These blocks are likely to be awarded by the end of March 2022. Successful award of Round-VII blocks would add further 15,766 square kilometre (sq. km) of exploration acreage and cumulative acreage under OALP will be increased to 207,692 sq km.

Since 2016, five rounds of OALP have been concluded for 105 Exploration and Production (E&P) blocks. The award of 21 blocks under the sixth round of OALP is under progress. In all, the 126 blocks comprise about 191,926 sq.km. of area spread across 18 sedimentary basins.

Blocks on Offer under OALP Bid Round-VII

NAME Of BLOCK	AREA (Sq. Km.)	STATE NAME
RJ-ONHP-2021/1	486.39	Rajasthan
AA-ONHP-2021/2	382.05	Tripura
SR-ONHP-2021/1	906.43	Madhya Pradesh
CB-OSHP-2021/2	1234.42	Western Offshore
CY-UDWHP-2021/1	8108.69	Eastern Offshore
AS-ONHP-2021/2	2445.30	Assam
AS-ONHP-2021/3	1840.87	Assam
CB-OSHP-2021/3	361.85	Western Offshore