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The Government has signed Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for 18 exploration blocks under the fifth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-V). The contracts were signed here today between the Government and the successful companies in the presence of Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj. These include 7 foreign companies namely Birckbeck Investment Ltd. (Mauritius), Cairn Energy Plc. of UK (through its seven (7) subsidiaries), ENI (of Italy), GeoGlobal Resources (Barbados), Hardy Exploration and Production India Inc., UK, Jubilant Capital Pvt. Ltd. (Cyprus) and Niko Resources (NELP-V) Ltd. (a subsidiary of Niko Resources Ltd., Canada) and 7 Indian companies namely Focus Energy Ltd. (formerly known as Phoenix Overseas Ltd.), GAIL (India) Limited, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Oil India Limited, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited and Reliance Industries Limited.
The 18 blocks for which contracts were signed include 6 deepwater blocks (2 blocks each in the Andaman seas and Kerala-Konkan offshore and one block each in Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi offshore), 2 offshore shallow water blocks (one each in Cambay offshore and Gujarat Saurashtra offshore) and 10 onland blocks (3 blocks in Rajasthan, 2 blocks in Gujarat and one block each in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh).
Contract discussions were held with the companies in August 2005 and agreements were reached resulting in finalization and signing of the PSCs for these blocks.
During the promotional road shows, Minister (P&NG) had promised investors that the Government was keen on accelerating the bidding and award process and that the PSCs would be signed by September, 2005. This timeline has been met with a full week to spare.
The minimum investment committed by the bidders in these 18 blocks is approx. Rs.1653 Crore (US$ 380 Million) in the first phase and Rs. 3771 Crore (US$ 867 Million) in all the three phases of exploration.
Awards in respect of two remaining blocks namely AA-ONN-2003/1 (Assam) and AA-ONN-2003/2 (Arunachal Pradesh) are expected to be announced shortly.
The Government is in the process of finalizing various activities for the next round of bidding under NELP-VI. At the initiative of the Minister (P&NG), Petrofed through PricewaterhouseCoopers had undertaken a study to review India’s exploration licensing round with a view to attract significant investment including from foreign investors. Petrofed after consulting various stakeholders particularly E&P companies has submitted its suggestions to Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Significant discoveries made under NELP have generated significant interest in E&P companies and enhanced India’s geological prospectivity of the hydrocarbons. The area under exploration in the country has trebled after the implementation of NELP. Gas reserves in the last 3 years have increased by about 50%. In this background, NELP-VI is expected to be launched in early 2006.
Minister (P&NG) wished the signatory companies all success in their endeavor to explore oil and gas in their respective blocks. Details of these blocks are given in the
RCJ/GS/Press Release/Contracts under NELP-V(23.09.2005) click here for Annexur
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