Govt approves oil blocks: ONGC wins 25

NEW DELHI: Government on Thursday approved award of 52 oil and gas blocks, including 25 to Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and its partners and seven to Reliance Industries Ltd and said the seventh round of auction of exploration acreage would be held in mid-April.

"The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved award of 52 out of the 55 exploration areas offered under sixth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.

While 52 blocks had received 165 bids, three blocks have not received any bid.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said ONGC is the operator in 24 blocks - 12 deep sea, two shallow water offshore and 10 onland - while is a minority partner with Cairn Energy of UK in one shallow offshore block.

Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries got seven prime deep sea blocks, while Santos of Australia bagged two deep sea blocks. State-run Oil India Ltd and its partners got six onland blocks, while Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) bagged three, Chidambaram said.

Focus and Petrogas got one shallow offshore block each, while Naftogaz got three onland blocks (one in partnership with Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd). Essar Oil bagged two onland blocks while Prize Petroleum and Geoglobal were awarded one onland block each.

Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said the Government was expecting an investment of 6-billion dollars in the five year exploration phase lasting 2012.

"The success of NELP-VI has been resounding and based on this conviction we will come out with NELP-VII in mid-April," he said.