India has extended a deadline to 31 January to submit bids for 10 oil and gas fields offered under the country's upstream bidding process.
The original deadline was 31 December 2022, which was also an extension from the original deadline of 6 September 2022. The 10 blocks under the the eighth round of the country's Open Acreage Licensing Policy were made available for international competitive bidding by the government in July 2022. India's upstream regulator the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons issued a notice inviting offers for the exploration and development of oil and gas blocks, which retained the features of the country's Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy.
The 10 blocks are spread over nine sedimentary basins that cover an area of around 36,000km². Two of the 10 blocks are onshore while the rest are offshore. The 10 blocks will generate immediate an exploration work commitment of $600mn-700mn, according to government projections in July.
The winners of the oil blocks will pay reduced royalties to the government, undertake no payment of taxes on production and will be allowed marketing and pricing freedom on production from the fields. Concessional royalty rates will come into force if production starts within four years for onshore and shallow water blocks and five years for deepwater blocks from the award of the contract.
The auction of the 10 blocks is part of India's efforts to boost domestic production of oil and gas and reduce its dependence on imports. India imports nearly 80pc of its crude requirements.
