Lok Sabha Question No. 3900 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-23
Subject: Allotment of Exploration Licence
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Thirumaa Valavan Thol

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3900 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23 rd March, 2023

## Allotment of Exploration Licence

## 3900.  SHRI THIRUMAAVALAVAN THOL:

## पेोलयम और ाक ृ तक गैस मंी

Will the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas be pleased to state:

- a) whether the  Government has called for  any  bid  to  allot  Exploration  Licence  under  the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) 2016;
- b) if so, the details of bids called since HELP 2016 Policy was announced;
- c) the details of the blocks allotted so far, State-wise, area and Indian-bidder/Internationalbidder-wise; and
- d) the details of the under production blocks?

## ANSWER

## पेोलयम और ाक ृ तक गैस मंालय म राय मंी ( ी रामेवर तेल )

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

(a)  &  (b)  Government  of  India  introduced  the  Open  Acreage  Licensing  Policy  (OALP)  on 30 th March 2016 as a part of the Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) and the first OALP Bid Round was launched in January 2018. Till date, 7 OALP Bid Rounds have been conducted wherein 134 blocks have been awarded with total acreage of 2,07,692 Sq Km through  International  Competitive  Bidding  (ICB).  The  details  of  bids  called  since  HELP, 2016 are annexed as Annexure I .

- (c)  The  details  of  allotted  blocks,  State-wise,  area  and  Indian-bidder/International-bidderwise are annexed as Annexure II .
- (d)    Till  date,  a  total  of  5  discoveries  (3  Oil  & 2  Gas  discoveries)  have  been  notified  in  4 OALP blocks  out  of  which  2  discoveries  are  currently  under  test  production  in  following blocks:

|   S. No. | State     | Block          | Nature hydrocarbon      | Operator   |
|----------|-----------|----------------|-------------------------|------------|
|        1 | Gujarat   | CB-ONHP-2017/2 | Natural Gas& Condensate | Vedanta    |
|        2 | Rajasthan | RJ-ONHP-2017/1 | Crude Oil               | Vedanta    |

************

Annexure-I (reference part (a) & (b) of reply of LS USQ 3900)

Bids called since HELP 2016

| OALP Bid Round   | Launch Date   |   Blocks on offer | Area on offer (sq.km.)   | Number of participants   |   No. of bids received | Area awarded (sq.km.)   |
|------------------|---------------|-------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
| OALP-I           | 19-01-2018    |                55 | 59,283                   | 9                        |                    110 | 59,283                  |
| OALP-II          | 07-01-2019    |                14 | 29,233                   | 8                        |                     33 | 29,233                  |
| OALP-III         | 10-02-2019    |                23 | 31,722                   | 5                        |                     42 | 29,765                  |
| OALP- IV         | 27-08-2019    |                 7 | 18,510                   | 2                        |                      8 | 18,510                  |
| OALP-V           | 14-01-2020    |                11 | 19,789                   | 3                        |                     12 | 19,789                  |
| OALP- VI         | 06-08-2021    |                21 | 35,346                   | 3                        |                     24 | 35,346                  |
| OALP- VII        | 16-12-2021    |                 8 | 15,766                   | 4                        |                     10 | 15,766                  |
| Total            |               |               139 | 209,649                  |                          |                    239 | 207,692                 |

## State wise, area wise details of awarded blocks

|   S. No. | State / Area      | Blocks   | Acreage awarded, Sq. km   |
|----------|-------------------|----------|---------------------------|
|        1 | OFFSHORE          | 31       | 87,306                    |
|        2 | Gujarat           | 24       | 16,471                    |
|        3 | Assam             | 22       | 19,112                    |
|        4 | Rajasthan         | 15       | 20,137                    |
|        5 | Tripura           | 8        | 1,777                     |
|        6 | Andhra Pradesh    | 6        | 9,123                     |
|        7 | Madhya Pradesh    | 6        | 15,632                    |
|        8 | Odisha            | 5        | 14,194                    |
|        9 | Tamil Nadu        | 4        | 2,980                     |
|       10 | West Bengal       | 4        | 11,455                    |
|       11 | Arunachal Pradesh | 3        | 1,927                     |
|       12 | Uttar Pradesh     | 2        | 2,067                     |
|       13 | Bihar             | 1        | 360                       |
|       14 | Himachal Pradesh  | 1        | 666                       |
|       15 | Maharashtra       | 1        | 1,543                     |
|       16 | Nagaland          | 1        | 2,574                     |
|       17 | Andaman &Nicobar  | -        | 249                       |
|       18 | Mizoram           | -        | 3                         |
|       19 | Puducherry        | -        | 114                       |
|       20 | TOTAL             | 134      | 207,692                   |

Note : Blocks falling in more than one state / jurisdiction have been indicated against State / jurisdiction having the largest area under its jurisdiction.

Indian Bidder/ International Bidder wise details of awarded blocks

|   S. No. | Operator          |   No. of Blocks awarded | Acreage awarded, Sq. Km   |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------|
|        1 | ONGC Limited      |                      45 | 89,875                    |
|        2 | Vedanta Limited   |                      51 | 58,585                    |
|        3 | Oil India Limited |                      29 | 54,224                    |
|        4 | SunPetro          |                       3 | 2,069                     |
|        5 | RIL-BP*           |                       1 | 1,514                     |
|        6 | GAIL              |                       2 | 699                       |
|        7 | IOCL              |                       1 | 474                       |
|        8 | BPRL              |                       1 | 174                       |
|        9 | HOEC              |                       1 | 79                        |
|       10 | TOTAL             |                     134 | 207,692                   |

All blocks awarded to PSUs or private companies working in India except one OALP block where UK-based E& P company B ritish Petroleum Company plc is a joint operator with RIL.