NEW DELHI, 11 FEB

India on Tuesday opened its largest oil and gas bid round, offering 25 blocks covering 1.91 lakh square kilometers mostly in offshore area, as the government looks to boost domestic production to cut imports and help energy security.

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched the 10th bid round under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) at the India Energy Week (IEW) here.

OALP-X round will feature 25 blocks spread over 1,91,986 square kilometers in 13 sedimentary basins. 13 of the blocks are in the offshore area.

In the previous nine rounds, 3.78 lakh sq km area was offered.

The last bid round, OALP-IX, was the largest before the current bid round.

The OALP-IX bid round featured 28 blocks or areas spread over 1.36 lakh sq km were offered for finding and producing oil and gas.

OALP-IX in September attracted four bidders that included state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd and private sector Vedanta Ltd, with most blocks getting just two bids, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). It also for the first time saw Reliance Industries Ltd-BP Plc combine bidding together with ONGC for one block in Gujarat offshore.

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

After considering its bid with Reliance-BP, ONGC in all bids for 19 out of the 28 blocks on offer.

Mining billionaire Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Ltd bid for all the 28 blocks on offer while Sun Petrochemicals Ltd bid for seven areas.