Offshore staff
SINGAPORE -- Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) dominated bidding on 45 of the 57 blocks offered under the seventh round of India's New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Bids closed at the end of June.
It will take about two months to evaluate the bids and select winners, with the first possible contract expected in about two months at the earliest, said a senior official at the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) at Noida, outside New Delhi.
BHP Billiton led the foreign companies in submitting bids for seven deepwater blocks, some of which were also bid by ONGC and its local partners Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. BHP has GVK Infrastructure Oil & Gas Ltd. as its partner.
BP joined Reliance Industries Ltd. in bidding for a single deepwater block, while Cairn Energy made a separate bid for a deepwater block, according to DGH.
07/07/2008
