India launches 3rd discovered small field round
The Indian government has launched the third discovered small field (DSF) bid round under which it is offering 32 contract areas which comprise 75 oil and gas discoveries, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas said on June 10.
These fields are spread over nine sedimentary basins covering more than 13,000 km2 with in-place hydrocarbon estimated to be around 230mn metric tons. An online pre-bid conference will be held on June 30 to clarify the doubts of bidders, the ministry said. The bidders will be able to submit their bids by August 31.
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These oil and gas discoveries were once made by state-owned explorers ONGC and Oil India but were relinquished owing to unviability. This was either due to their small size or because of unattractive fiscal regimes under which they were awarded.
The ministry said that the previous two DSF rounds were very successful. In the first DSF round launched in 2016, 134 bids were submitted for 34 contract areas by 47 companies and 30 revenue sharing contracts were signed. In the second DSF round launched in 2018, 145 bids were submitted for 24 contract areas and 24 revenue-sharing contracts were signed.
The government of India had launched DSF policy in 2015 for awarding discovered acreages and monetise the unmonetised discoveries. The DSF policy has features like a revenue-sharing contract model with a low regulatory burden, no minimum biddable work programme, no prior technical qualification required, and no upfront signature bonus, the ministry said.