Only three bidders for 21 oil, gas blocks

New Delhi, October 12

India’s latest bid round for 21 oil and gas blocks attracted just three bidders, two of whom were state-owned explorers Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), according to upstream regulator DGH.

Vedanta, Ril stay away 

• Of the 21 blocks on offer, 18 got a single bid and the remaining three blocks had two bidders
• Besides ONGC and OIL, Sun Petrochemicals was the only other bidder. Vedanta and Reliance stayed away

As many as 21 blocks or areas were offered for exploration and production of oil and gas in the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-VI, for which bidding closed on October 6.

Besides ONGC and OIL, Sun Petrochemicals was the only other company to have bid, according to ‘Summary of Bids Received Against Offered Blocks’ posted by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). Of the 21 blocks on offer, 18 got a single bid and the remaining 3 blocks had two bidders.

ONGC, India’s largest oil producer, bid for 19 out of the 21 blocks on offer while OIL bid for two. ONGC was the sole bidder in 16 blocks and OIL was the only bidder in the two areas it sought for. — PTI