India to offer 21 oil, gas blocks in OALP-XI bid round
The list includes 12 on land areas, four shallow water blocks, one deep sea block and four ultra-deep sea blocks
image for illustrative purpose
New Delhi: India is likely to offer 21 blocks for prospecting of oil and natural gas in the next bidding round under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
DGH on its website put out a list of the 21 blocks, made up of 12 onland areas, four shallow water blocks, one deepsea block and four ultra-deep sea blocks, that will be offered in the 11th round of OALP (OALP-XI).
The area to be offered for bidding is about 80,235 square kilometers. "Bid submission start and closing dates (will) be announced soon," DGH said.DGH unveiled the blocks and bidding parameters for OALP-XI round even as bids for the previous OALP-X round are yet to come in.
According to the DGH, bidders offering the highest revenue share, plus quoting the most work programme, would be awarded the 14 blocks in Category-I sedimentary basins on offer in OALP-XI. For the second, Category-II & III blocks, bidders quoting the highest work programme of doing seismic and drilling well will get the blocks.
Category-I sedimentary basin is one with proven commercial production of oil and gas. Category-II are ones with confirmed hydrocarbon accumulation but not yet been developed for commercial production while Category-III are ones with considered geologically prospective but no commercial discoveries have been made to date.
OALP-X round, which was launched in February 2025 during India Energy Week (IEW) 2025 in New Delhi, was originally scheduled to close at the end of July that year. In late July, the deadline was extended to October 31 and again to December 31, 2025. The deadline was then extended till February 18, 2026 and now it is due on May 29.
OALP-X is the largest oil and gas acreage offering ever, with 25 blocks on offer cover a total of about 191,986 sq km.
