The Central government has floated tender for 25 discovered oil and gas fields holding resources of an estimated Rs one trillion as it intends to expedite production from the area lying idle for years.
In Discovered Small Fields (DSF)-II, 59 discoveries have been clubbed into 25 contract areas spread over 3,042 sq km and eight sedimentary basins. The last date of bidding is 18 December 2018 and contracts will be awarded within December 2019.
In DSF-I round, Rs 346 billion of resources were bid out. This round received 134 bids for 34 blocks out of 46 on offer. DSF-II will generate 85,000 jobs.
The government had planned to offer 60 discoveries clubbed into 26 contract areas spread over 3,100 sq km in DSF-II, but curtailed the offer to 25 areas comprising 59 discoveries due to some unexplained technical difficulty.
The fields are being offered in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kutch and Cambay shallow waters, Mumbai offshore, Assam and Tripura, Mahanadi shallow water, Andhra Pradesh onland and KG offshore. In DSF-II, the fields on offer hold 190 million tonne or 1.39 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent in place gas reserves.
On offer are 15 onland fields and 10 shallow water areas. Of the 60 fields that were identified for DSF-II, 22 belong to ONGC, five to OIL and 12 are relinquished discovered fields from the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) blocks.