Round 3 bidding of discovered small fields set for April 1, 2022 start

In a notable development, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has announced the bidding for discovered small fields-III (DSF-III). The bidding round started from April 1, 2022 and the last date for bid submission is May 16, 2022. The bid round comprises 75 small and marginal oil and na­tural gas discoveries, mostly of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The fields on offer include a few of the nomination fields of ONGC and some of the relinquished/unmonetised discoveries. DSF-III offers 32 co­ntract areas, comprising 75 fields/discoveries, with a combined total ar­ea of over 13,000 square km, across nine sedimentary basins. According to the DGH, the 32 contract areas have a total resource potential of about 230 million tonnes of oil equivalent, that is, 1.7 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent of gas. The original deadline for the submission of bids was August 31, 2021, however, it was postponed twice in 2021 and once in 2022. The third bidding round under DSF-III was launched in June 2021.