Block deal

New Delhi, Dec. 12: Oil India Ltd (OIL) is poised to get eight oil and gas exploration blocks under Nelp 6. The company has not bagged so many blocks together in any of the earlier Nelp rounds. This will see OIL playing a bigger role in the country’s oil and gas hunt by moving beyond Northeast.

OIL chief adviser (exploration and development) S.K. Srivastava told The Telegraph that six of these blocks were onland, where the company would be the operator. The other two would be deep-sea blocks, which would be awarded to an ONGC-led consortium of which OIL is a part, he added.

OIL had also bid for a deep-sea block in partnership with Reliance Industries.

OIL plans to increase its exploration activities in the Rajasthan desert with two more blocks expected to come its way in the state under the Nelp 6 round. It has emerged as the frontrunner for one block in Mizoram, two in Assam and an onland block in the KG basin.

The empowered committee of secretaries is reported to have approved the award, which will now be sent to the cabinet committee of economic affairs for final approval.

In the Nelp 5 round that concluded last year, the company had put in seven bids but managed to get only one block.

In Nelp 4, OIL had put in six bids and got five blocks. It is an operator for two of these, while in the other three, it has a partnership with ONGC.

In Nelp 3, the company was awarded three blocks.

It is an operator in only one block while it is part of an ONGC consortium in the other two.

OIL currently has 12 rigs, which are not sufficient to meet its needs. It, therefore, has to hire rigs as well. It has recently bought a Chinese rig, which it is using for drilling in Rajasthan.

However, OIL has exceeded its work commitment targets under the contracts signed during the various Nelp rounds.

As many as 55 blocks were on offer under Nelp 6, of which 24 blocks were awarded to ONGC.

Twelve of these are deep-sea blocks.

Of the 21 deep-sea blocks offered in Nelp 6, Reliance has emerged as the highest bidder in seven — two in the Krishna-Godavari basin and five in the Mahanadi basin. Santos was recommended for two Northeast-coast blocks.

Of the 55 blocks on offer, 39 received multiple bids while there were single bids for 13 blocks.

Four blocks, including one in the Andamans, did not have any takers.