Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) on 3 January 2024 signed contracts for 10 blocks awarded under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-VIII and 3 Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Blocks awarded under Special CBM Bid Round-SCBM 2022.
- OALP-IX Bid Round was also launched at the event. In this bid round, 28 blocks, with an area of approximately 1,36,596 Sq. Km., are on offer for bidding.
About Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP)
- The Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP) was approved in March 2016.
- The focus has been shifted from ‘revenue’ to ‘production’ maximization.
- Under HELP, Open Acreage Licensing (OALP) mechanism has been launched which allows the investors to carve out blocks of their choice by assessing E&P data available at NDR & by submitting an Expression of Interest (EoI).
- EOI can be submitted throughout the year without waiting for a formal bid round from the government.
- These blocks would be subsequently offered through biannual formal bidding process.
- HELP adopts the Revenue Sharing Contract model.
- It comes with attractive and liberal terms like reduced royalty rates, no Oil Cess, marketing and pricing freedom, round the year bidding, freedom to investors for carving out blocks of their interest, a single license to cover both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources, exploration permission during the entire contract period, and an easy, transparent and swift bidding and awarding process.
Key developments
- Vast offshore acreage of more than 1 Million Sq. Km. has been made available in recent past for E&P operations which were earlier so called ‘No-Go’ areas.
- Currently only 10% of Indian Sedimentary Basin Area is under active exploration,
- It is estimated that after award of blocks under forthcoming OALP-IX and X Bid Rounds, about 5,60,000 Sq. Km. area (16%) will come under exploration by end of year 2024.
