Exxon likely to bid for oil blocks in NELP-VII

MUMBAI: After staying away from the first six rounds, world’s largest publicly-traded oil and gas company ExxonMobil is likely to participate in the upcoming round of New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) bidding.

Confirming the move, ExxonMobil Gas (India) CEO ML (Mac) Cessna told ET, “We are looking at the data. A decision on final bidding will be taken after accessing that. Every year we spent $18 billion on exploration globally.” He was in Mumbai to attend a conference on ‘Energy Options 2007: Gas, A cost effective energy solution’, organised by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

India wants Chevron, BP and Exxon Mobil to bid as domestic companies do not have the technology to search for reserves in deep waters and remote regions. India is competing with Africa and South America to attract global oil companies to seek reserves and meet surging demand as decades-old fields in North America and the North Sea begin to dry up.

The government launched the seventh round of the NELP on Thursday, offering 57 oil and gas blocks to national and international players. Of the 57 oil and gas blocks, nine are in shallow water, 19 in deep-sea and 29 on land. Bids for NELP-VII would close on April 11, 2008, and the entire process would be completed within six months, Petroleum secretary MS Srinivasan said while announcing the launch of NELP.

Promotional roadshows for NELP-VII were planned in Mumbai, London, Houston, Calgary, Singapore and Perth. All geo-scientific data have been made available online and data centres have been set up in Delhi, London, Houston, Perth and Calgary.

RIL president for petroleum business PMS Prasad had earlier said Reliance may bid jointly for the first time with BP, Exxon Mobil and Chevron for drilling rights in India, to share rising exploration costs and gain the expertise of its foreign peers. India’s biggest oil explorer ONGC is also believed to have approached US oil majors to jointly submit bids for NELP VII.

Even petroleum minister Murli Deora, while launching NELP-VII, had cautioned global oil firms not to stay away from bidding in India. “In the previous rounds, companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP didn’t participate. I hope they don’t make the same mistake again. India has shown it has good prospects through recent discoveries,” he said.

“US majors are not interested in bidding for exploratory blocks. They are only interested in picking up stakes in discovered fields, where the risk is less and the payback period is shorter,” said a senior ONGC official.