Reliance-BP-ONGC trio strikes big on debut; ONGC corners most OALP-IX blocks, Vedanta grabs 7

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Reliance Industries, global energy giant BP and state-owned ONGC, which for the first time ever teamed together for any venture, won a Gujarat offshore oil block in the latest bid round that saw ONGC walk away with most areas and Vedanta winning seven.

The consortia of Reliance, BP and ONGC won the GS-OSHP-2022/2 block that was offered under the ninth bid round of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-IX).

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and its partners won 15 blocks. The state-owned firm won 11 blocks on its own and the remaining four with partners. Mining baron Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, which had bid for all the 28 blocks on offer, won 7, officials said.

"We are happy to confirm that we have signed a contract for a new exploration license under the consortium of ONGC (40 per cent) RIL (30 per cent) and bp (30 per cent) for block GS-OSHP-2022/2 (Saurashtra Basin) in the OALP IX bidding round.

"This strategic collaboration brings together the expertise of India's largest national oil and gas company, ONGC, the largest Indian conglomerate, Reliance Industries, and global energy major bp. This consortium leverages the strength of all parties and is another step towards strengthening India's energy security goals," a BP spokesperson said.

Oil India Ltd won 6 blocks on its own and 3 in a joint venture with ONGC.

Contracts for the OALP-IX blocks were signed at an event here in the presence of Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

In the OALP-IX bid round, 28 blocks or areas spread over 1.36 lakh square kilometres were offered for finding and producing oil and gas. The highlight of the round was Reliance-BP combine bidding together with ONGC for one block in Gujarat offshore.

Reliance and its supermajor partner BP Plc had bid in just two of the past eight oil and gas bid rounds since 2017. They had won both the blocks.

In the previous eighth round of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-VIII), ONGC had not bid for the ultra deepsea Krishna Godavari basin block that Reliance-bp combine had sought.

Pallavi Jain, Director General of DGH, said a USD 3.77 billion investment has been committed in the previous eight bid rounds of OALP.

At the close of bidding for OLAP-IX on September 21, 2024, ONGC bid for 14 blocks alone and with partners such as state-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for four other blocks. After considering its bid with Reliance-BP, ONGC in all bid for 19 out of the 28 blocks on offer.

Vedanta bid for all the 28 blocks on offer, while Sun Petrochemicals Ltd bid for seven areas.

Of the 28 blocks on offer, four blocks got three bids each, while the rest had two bidders, one being Vedanta Ltd.

Blocks were awarded to firms offering the highest share of revenues generated from oil and gas produced from the blocks and the work programme they commit to, officials said.

The government in February opened the OALP-X bid round, offering 25 blocks with an area of approximately 1,91,986.21 sq km. This is the biggest round ever and bidding closes on July 31. Out of 25 blocks, 6 blocks are on land, 6 in shallow water, 1 in deep water and 12 blocks are in ultra-deep-water areas.

Of the 28 blocks offered in OALP-IX, nine were onshore blocks, eight shallow-water blocks and 11 ultra-deepwater blocks across eight sedimentary basins, with an area of 136,596.45 sq km.

In the previous eight OALP rounds, 144 exploration and production blocks, comprising a total area of 242,055 sq km, have been awarded. In the last round (OALP-VIII), where 10 blocks were offered, state-owned ONGC won seven blocks, while Reliance-BP, Oil India and private-sector Sun Petrochemicals received one block each.

The government introduced OALP in 2017 to attract oil and gas firms to develop India's upstream sector. The OALP guarantees marketing and pricing freedom with a revenue-sharing model, apart from offering reduced royalty rates.

Reliance and BP have more than a decade-old partnership and are partners in KG deepsea block KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 from where they produce about 28 million standard cubic meters per day of gas.

The government has been hoping that opening up more acreage for exploration will help boost India's oil and gas production, helping cut down the USD 222 billion oil import bill.

In 2016, it brought in an open acreage policy, which moved away from the previous practice of government identifying and bidding out blocks to one where explorers were allowed the freedom to identify any area outside of the ones that are already with some company or other for prospecting of oil and gas.

The areas identified are to be clubbed twice a year and offered for bidding. The firm identifying the area gets a 5-point advantage.

But except for the first round, private sector participation has been scant. Mining mogul Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd walked away with 41 blocks out of the 55 blocks on offer in the very first round and got another 10 areas in two subsequent rounds.

Other rounds have been dominated by state-owned firms.