OALP round 4 results : State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has bagged exploration and production rights for all the seven onshore oil and gas blocks on offer at the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP IV)  held by the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).

The onshore oil and gas blocks are located in three sedimentary basins and in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal. The petroleum and natural gas ministry opened the OALP round 4 bids in last August.

MoPNG said that the oil and gas blocks have a combined acreage of 18,510 sqkm, while having a total resource potential of about 33 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas.

Five of the seven Indian oil and gas blocks are in Madhya Pradesh, while Rajasthan and West Bengal have one block each, as per the OALP round 4 results.

ONGC said that the oil and gas blocks in Madhya Pradesh are located in the Vindhya Basin, which is a Category II Basin. The blocks won by the company in the state are VN-ONHP-2019/1, VN-ONHP-2019/2, VN-ONHP-2019/3, VN-ONHP-2019/4, and VN-ONHP-2019/5. The five blocks are spread over a total area of 13,259.95 sqkm.

In Rajasthan, ONGC won the RJ-ONHP-2019/1 block, which is spread over 2,118.8 sqkm in a Category I Basin, where there has already been commercial production of hydrocarbons.

As per the OALP round 4 results, ONGC bagged the BP-ONHP-2019/1 block in West Bengal, which is contained in the unexplored Category III Bengal Purnea Basin. The West Bengal oil and gas block spans 3,130.9 sqkm.

According to the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the four OALP Bid Rounds till date has awarded 94 oil and gas blocks spanning an area of 1,36,790 sqkm to some of the top exploration and production companies. Operators of the blocks had either started petroleum exploration activities or are in the final stages of getting petroleum exploration licenses, said the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The petroleum and gas ministry expects the awarded oil and gas blocks in the OALP rounds to yield an investment of nearly $2.35 billion in exploratory activities itself in the coming three-four years.

Commenting on the OALP round 4 results and on the reforms in the hydrocarbon sector in India, Dharmendra Pradhan – Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, said: “We have shifted our focus from revenue to production maximisation and have adopted the path of continuous reform.”

“Technology infusion in E& P activities has seen tremendous progress in recent times. Our oil and gas companies are adopting digitisation, new technologies for augmenting production and growth.

“Energy sector will witness huge investments in coming years. Government has recently released the report of the task force on National Infrastructure Pipeline for 2019-25 which lays down a roadmap for 102 lakh crore rupees worth of investments. Energy sector will comprise about 24% of the projected capital expenditure in infrastructure.”

  Bengal Purnea Basin, Dharmendra Pradhan, India, Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Madhya Pradesh, OALP round 4, ONGC, Rajasthan, Vindhya Basin, West Bengal