As govt opens more areas for oil and gas exploration, ONGC reports new find

State-owned company may get more acreage for exploration as government aims to increase domestic fuel production

ONGC, India’s bellwether oil and gas exploration company, has in the past couple of weeks reported major offshore discoveries. It reported ‘first oil’ production from the KG-DWN-98/2 block off the coast of Bay of Bengal. Days later it announced “two significant natural gas reserves” in the Mahanadi basin block in the Bay of Bengal.

Has spring come early for the state-owned company, or are the discoveries happenstance? In January this year, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry launched the nine round of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OLAP) for international bidders. As many as 28 blocks of approximately 1,36,596 sq km