ONGC wins five fields, OIL 2

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Friday won five oilfields in the second discovered small field (DSF) auction round.

Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Vedanta Ltd walked away with two fields each while lesser known Ganges Geo Resources Pvt Ltd won five fields, an official statement said here.

Indian Oil Corp and its partner HOEC won one field.

"The Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) and Group of Ministers on March 1 2019 has approved the award of 23 contract areas to highest ranked bidders as part of the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Bid Round II," it said.

The remaining fields went to little known firms like Arch Softwares Pvt Ltd, Shanti GD Ispat Power Pvt Ltd, Arsh Corporate Services Pvt Ltd, Invenire ENergy Pvt Ltd, Keerthi Industries and Gem Petro E&P Pvt Ltd.

As many as 39 firms, including six foreign players, had put in 145 bids for 24 out of the 25 oil and gas fields on offer in DSF-II at the close of bidding on January 30. Mining giant Vedanta put in the maximum number of bids for 21 fields.

The statement said one bid for a field has been kept in abeyance as the matter is sub-judice.

ONGC and OIL had put in bids for 10 fields each while Indian Oil Corp (IOC) bid for 3.

British company Soco International made its foray into India, bidding for one field but it failed to make a dent. Arch Softwares, a firm floated by a ex-Cairn India employee, had put in bids for 15 fields.