ONGC signs six contracts for Discovered Small Fields in offshore during DSF-III, two under CBM bid round-2021

New Delhi, September 10, 2022

The public sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed six contracts for Discovered Small Fields (DSF) in offshore under DSF-III bid round -- three each in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

They include four contract areas as sole bidder and two in partnership with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), another public sector giant.

The company also signed two contracts for fields under Special Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Bid round-2021 blocks, one each in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

In the Special CBM bid round-2021 under Open Acreage Licensing (OALP), as per provisions of the a revenue sharing contract (RSC), a total estimated expenditure commitment is indicated by the contractor to the Government of India. For the two CBM blocks awarded to ONGC, the total investment commitment is to the tune of $ 5.94 million.

In the six DSF-III blocks awarded to ONGC, including the two under joint venture with IOC, an investment of $ 1.894 billion is planned towards development in the blocks.

The contracts were exchanged in the presence of Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, by ONGC CMD Rajesh Kumar Srivastava here yesterday. ONGC Director (Offshore) Pankaj Kumar was also present.

The DSF-III bid round 2021 was launched by Government of India on June 10, 2021. A total of 75 fields (Nomination & PSC Regime) under the Discovered Small Field Policy were clubbed in 32 Contract Areas (11 Onland and 21 Offshore) for offer under DSF-III.

The CBM special bid round 2021 was launched by Government on September 22, 2021 and concluded on May 31 2022 with a total of 15 blocks under offer.

NNN