In a landmark partnership, ONGC, Reliance Industries, and BP have jointly won a Gujarat offshore block for natural gas exploration under OALP-IX, with ONGC emerging as the top bidder across this round.

The three firms secured block GS-OSHP-2022/2, marking the first such collaboration among India’s largest national oil company, its top conglomerate, and a global energy major. ONGC won 15 blocks overall — 11 individually and four in partnerships, including this one.

The Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP-IX) featured 28 blocks spread across nine onshore, eight shallow-water, and 11 ultra-deepwater zones. It covered over 136,000 square kilometres across eight sedimentary basins.

Vedanta Ltd, which bid for all blocks, won seven, while Oil India Ltd secured six alone and three with ONGC. The bidding round, which closed in September 2024, prioritised government revenue share and work programme quality. It drew limited participation from private firms, continuing the trend of dominance by public sector entities.

Notably, Reliance and BP had previously participated in only two OALP rounds and won both. Their latest success comes amid the government’s push to raise domestic output and cut India’s $222 billion oil import bill.

With the OALP-X round now open — offering 25 blocks over nearly 192,000 square kilometres — exploration activity is expected to intensify further.

Source: Business Standard