Lok Sabha Question No. 3090 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-12-05
Subject: Auction of Discovered Small Fields
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: M. UDHAYAKUMAR, KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL, GAURAV GOGOI, JAYADEV GALLA, MAHEISH GIRRI

3090

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3090 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5.12.2016

Auction of Discovered Small Fields

ADV. M. UDHAYAKUMAR:

SHRI KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL:

SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:

SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

SHRI MAHEISH GIRRI:

पेट्रोलियमऔरप्राक ृ लिकगैसमंत्री

## Will the Minister of PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has offered/ proposes to offer 67 oil and gas and discovered small and marginal fields for auction through international bidding;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the number of domestic/foreign companies participated in the said auction, company-wise including ONGC and Oil India Limited;
- (c)  whether  any  reserve  price  has  been  fixed  by  the  Government  for  each  of  the  oil  and  gas blocks and if so, the details thereof along with number of such blocks awarded to Indian/foreign companies and the time by which the production from such oil/gas fields is likely to be started, company/ field-wise;
- (d) whether there is a strong protest in some States against the decision of the Government to auction the said oil and gas fields and if so, the corrective steps taken in this regard;
- (e) Whether the Government has announced new Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) and changed the revenue sharing model with the private/ foreign players and if so, the details thereof along with salient features of the new policy announced by the Government; and (f) whether any study has been carried out to ascertain the revenue likely to be generated as a result of change in revenue sharing model and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

पेट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्रािय में राज्य मंत्री ( प्राार रन्त्िवत्र ( ) प्रााप्र ामेवध ीी )

## MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a)  &  (b)  To  augment domestic production of Crude Oil and Natural Gas, the Government of India has announced the offer of forty six (46) Contract Areas comprising sixty seven (67) Oil and  Gas  fields,  under  the  Discovered  Small  Field  Policy  (DSFP)  through  International Competitive Bidding (ICB).

Directorate  General  of  Hydrocarbons  (DGH)  received  134  e-Bids  for  the  34  contract      areas under the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) Bid Round 2016 by the deadline of 1200 Hours on 21 st November 2016.A total of 47 companies (Individually or as member of the bidding consortium) have  participated  in  the  bid  round.  Out  of  these,  06  are  PSUs/Subsidiaries,  05  are  foreign companies and 36 are domestic companies.

- (c) The Government has not fixed any reserve price. However, companies on their own have to give Minimum Work Programme which would need to be adhered to.
- (d) : Public Interest Litigation (PIL) No. 54 of 2016 was filed in the High Court of Guwahati against  auctioning  of  12  Oil  fields  in  Assam.  This  PIL  was  dismissed  by  High  Court  of Guwahati.  To  address  the  misunderstanding  amongst  certain  section  of  public  about  the decision of auctioning oil and gas field under DSFP, a half-page advertisement was brought out in twelve regional newspapers of Assam on 18 th July, 2016.

(e)& (f):  In  order to  attract  more  investment  in  E&P sector, Government has approved the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP).

The salient features of HELP are:-

- i. Single license for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbon.
- ii. An open acreage policy.
- iii. Easy to administer revenue sharing model
- iv. Marketing and pricing freedom for the crude oil and natural gas.
- v. Reduce royalty rates for offshore areas.

After extensive deliberations, Government has decided to have Revenue Sharing Model to obviate the shortcomings under Production Sharing Contract regime such as issues related to cost recovery, investment multiples, micromanagement by the Management Committee etc.

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