NELP-VII deferred to December

The bidding under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)-VII has been once again deferred to December from November, announced Petroleum Minister Murli Deora here on Saturday. The bidding was to commence in August but could not take place due to the non-settlement of gas pricing issue and was postponed to November. However, V K Sibal, Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), said that the bidding would begin from November. Nearly 25 blocks — each block with 5,000 sq km to 9,000 sq km — would be thrown open under the NELP-VII bid.

A K Jain, Joint Secretary in the petroleum ministry, said that a meeting would take place between the petroleum ministry and the DGH to decide the exact timetable for the bidding process. The trio spoke to reporters separately at the sidelines of a function to dedicate the new Tapti Commissioning and Processing Platform to the nation.

ONGC, Reliance Industries and BG India will jointly operate the Panna Mukta and Tapti fields.