Vedanta bags 41 oil, gas blocks in open acreage auction; stock up over 3%

Shares of Vedanta rose 3.45% to Rs 238.25 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade after the company got 41 blocks, out of the total 55 on offer, under the country's first round of oil and gas auctions under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-I).

At 12:24 pm, the stock was at Rs 232.85, up 1.11%. In comparison, the Nifty 50 index was at 11,727, down 0.1%. So far in intra-day, Vedanta has hit a low of Rs 231.60 on NSE.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) on Tuesday came out with the list of winners, which also included Oil India (OIL), with nine blocks, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), with two blocks. Three companies -- Gail (India), Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC) and Bharat PetroResources -- got one block each.

"We are an energy deficient country and policies like OALP will help reduce the country's import dependence for oil from around 80 per cent now to 67 per cent by 2022, in line with the vision of the prime minister," said Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta. He added that the government decision will strengthen the vision of Vedanta's oil and gas division to contribute about 50 per cent of the country's crude oil production.

The current round was in the news owing to the non-aggressive bidding strategy of the largest hydrocarbon player, ONGC. The company said that the move was a commercial decision. READ MORE HERE