India shifts to OALP to boost oil output

Investors will have flexibility to carve out blocks of their choice through a minimum 10"x10" grid

In a big leap for oil and gas exploration and production, the government is set to launch the open acreage licensing policy (OALP), which allows a company to select their own exploration block, without waiting for the formal bid round.

As an initial step, a national data policy will be announced within a month. This will be followed by the opening up of a national data repository (NDR), which will have seismic data, among other details, within six months. 

OALP will work under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) that will give investors much freedom in pricing and marketing