Bid due date extended for eighth round of auction under OALP

According to Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the government has extended the bid due date for exploration and development of 10 oil and gas blocks under the eighth round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) from May 16, 2023 to July 5, 2023. The bids for the same were invited in July 2022. The government also extended the deadline for the special coal bed methane (CBM) bid round to June 30, 2023. The CBM round was launched on October 10, 2022. Further, the government has also approved several modifications to the bid documents of the eighth bidding round. The new rules permit companies to carve out larger blocks, modify bid evaluation criteria and incentivise early monetisation of discoveries.