India’s ONGC ‎receives 28 bids for 50 oil and gas fields

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has received a total of 28 bids for 50 out of 64 small and marginal oil and gas fields in the first round of bidding.

These oil and gas fields were put out for bidding to raise production by involving private sector players, news agency PTI reported.

Undisclosed sources familiar with the development told the news agency that 12 companies placed these bids for 50 fields at the closure of the bidding last week.

ONGC had combined all 64 fields into 17 onshore contract areas with a cumulative capacity to produce 300 million tonnes (Mt) of oil and oil equivalent natural gas reserves.

The sources added that 28 bids received are for 14 contract areas, which cover 50 fields. However, no bids were made for the remaining three clusters comprising 14 fields.

Duganta Oil and Gas made four bids while Orissa Stevedores, Priserve Infrastructure and Udayan Oil made three bids each.

ONGC is looking for partners who can raise output beyond a pre-agreed baseline and the contractor will be selected on a revenue-sharing basis.

The sources noted that the revenue will be shared under Business-As-Usual (BAU). The contract will last for 15 years with a five-year extension option.

ONGC invited bids under the production enhancement contract (PEC), through which there will be a 10% reduction in the royalty rate for additional production of natural gas.

The report by PTI added that necessary exploration for all kinds of hydrocarbons will be permitted during the contract period.