(Live Mint)
With a steady rise in domestic fossil fuel consumption making the country’s target of cutting import dependence on oil more challenging, state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has decided to aggressively expand its acreage under exploration and production from July once the government starts accepting bids for 26 unexplored sedimentary basins.
The country’s largest oil and gas producer intends to increase its exploration and production acreage at least by 30% over the next few years from 90,000 square kilometers at present, a senior official said, asking not to be named.
ONGC chairman and managing director D.K. Sarraf, when contacted, said that being a national oil company, ONGC has the task of leading the country’s quest for energy security and that the company would aggressively expand its portfolio of assets once the open acreage licensing policy (OALP), of letting explorers to bid for the area of their choice, comes into force from July.
Under this scheme, once an explorer expresses interest on the area of its choice, the government will seek counter-bids before awarding the area to the winner. This is a major departure from the earlier practice of the government carving out specific blocks and offering them to businesses, which restricts investors’ choice.
