Government pushes last date for auction of 67 small oil and gas fields by three weeks

The government has pushed out the last date for the auction of 67 small oil and gas fields by three weeks. These fields were given up by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited. The last date for bid submission has been extended till November 21, 2016 from the earlier October 31, 2016. During the auction, 67 discovered fields are being offered in 46 contract areas. Of these areas, 26 are onland, 18 are shallow water and two are deepwater fields. The fields hold in-place reserves of about 48 million tonnes (mt) of oil (17.85 mt in onland blocks and 30.19 mt in offshore blocks) and over 38 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas reserves (7.2 bcm in onland blocks and 31.18 bcm in offshore areas). The potential bidders have sought more data, particularly about the size of reserves, to make informed decisions prior to bidding.