ONGC invites bids from private companies to raise output from 43 oil, gas fields

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Thursday invited bids from private companies for handing over operations of 43 small and marginal oil and gas fields with a view to raising production.

The 43 onland fields have been clustered into 11 contract areas that will be bid out to companies offering the highest oil and gas output on top of a pre-decided baseline, the company said in a statement.

ONGC had in June 2019 invited similar bids for 64 fields that were clustered into 17 contract areas. The bid round did not evoke much interest and failed.

"ONGC announces Notice Inviting Offer (NIO) seeking partners for enhancement of production from its marginal nomination fields in line with its goal of maximizing recovery from its producing fields," the statement said.

The fields on offer have a total in-place oil and oil equivalent gas volume of about 160 million tonne.

The 64 fields offered in 2019 held a cumulative 300 million tonne of oil and oil equivalent natural gas reserves.

The oil ministry has been unhappy with the near stagnant oil and gas production and believes giving out the discovered fields to private firms would help raise output as they can bring in technology and capital.