The Union petroleum ministry, on 23 February 2006, officially launched the sixth round under the New Exploration & Licensing Policy. Bidding will open on 28 February 2006 and will close on 15 September 2006.

A series of roadshows will be held between March and June 2006, with the following schedule -- Delhi (March 10), London (March 20), Houston (March 23), Perth (March 20-31), Kuala Lumpur (April 5-6), Singapore (April 7), Doha (April 22), Dubai (April 23-24), Calgary (June 14-15) and Rio (June 19-20).

India would be offering 55 petroleum blocks including 24 deep sea, 6 shallow offshore and 25 onland blocks. This is the largest number of blocks awarded in any of the five preceding rounds.

In the five rounds of NELP so far, the acreage under exploration has risen more than three times and the accretion to reserves has been around 600 million tonnes. The committed investment is to the order of $5 billion. Click here for details on blocks awarded in NELP V.

The third round of bidding under the coal bed methane policy (CBM III) will also be launched simultaneously. Ten blocks would be offered under this round. Bidding under CBM III will close on 30 June 2006.

Useful links:

Notes on NELP VI and CBM III, sourced from the official website of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

NELP VI (PDF, 976 kb)

CBM III (PDF, 239 kb)