The Central government has again deferred the last date for bidding for oil and gas exploration blocks offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) by over a month to 15 May 2019.
The last date for OALP bid Round II and III, which are running almost concurrently, was 10 April 2019, but has now been pushed back. The government has not specified the reasons for extending the deadline.
The government had in January 2019 offered 14 blocks in OALP-II bid round and in February 2019 offered another 23 oil and gas blocks and coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks in Round III.
Bids for the 14 blocks offered in OALP-II bid round, covering an area of 29,333 sq km, were to close on 12 March 2019, but the deadline was extended to 10 April 2019.
The bid deadline of 10 April 2019 was also for the 23 oil and gas and CBM blocks offered in Round III, which was launched on 10 February 2019. OALP-II bid round was delayed by six months and its launch came barely a month before Round III. An investment of about Rs 40,000 crore is expected in the prospecting of oil and gas in the blocks offered.