Reliance-bp has partnered with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to participate in India’s largest oil and gas bid. The bid has reportedly attracted four contenders, making it the most substantial bid in the country’s oil and gas sector.

What Happened: India’s largest oil and gas bid round, OALP-IX, has drawn significant participation from key players, including state-owned companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), alongside private sector giant Vedanta Ltd.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) reported that most of the 28 blocks on offer in this round saw only two bids. The blocks, covering an area of 1.36 lakh square kilometres, were offered for exploration and production of oil and gas under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).

A major highlight of the OALP-IX round was the first-time collaboration between Reliance Industries and its partner bp plc with ONGC, as they jointly bid for a block in Gujarat’s offshore area. This partnership is significant as Reliance and bp had previously only participated in two of the eight earlier bid rounds since the policy was launched in 2017.

See Also: L&T Jumps 1% On Bagging ‘Mega’ Order In Middle East

This new venture marks a change in strategy and signals a renewed interest in India’s oil and gas exploration sector from two of its biggest industry players. ONGC led the way by submitting bids for 14 blocks independently. In addition, it partnered with OIL and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to bid for four more blocks. Altogether, ONGC placed bids for 19 of the 28 available blocks, including the one in collaboration with Reliance-bp.

On the other hand, Vedanta Ltd, owned by mining magnate Anil Agarwal, was the most aggressive participant, placing bids for all 28 blocks. Sun Petrochemicals Ltd also joined the competition, bidding for seven areas. While four of the blocks attracted three bids each, the remaining blocks saw competition between two bidders, with Vedanta being one of the contenders.

The OALP bidding process operates on a revenue-sharing model, with companies offering a percentage of the revenue and committing to a work program. This round offered a mix of nine onshore blocks, eight shallow-water blocks, and 11 ultra-deepwater blocks, distributed across eight sedimentary basins.

The OALP, introduced in 2017, provides flexibility for oil and gas companies by offering marketing and pricing freedom, encouraging more investment in exploration. The government's goal with these rounds is to reduce India’s dependence on oil imports, which totalled $222 billion in 2023.

Read Next: Tata Power, Power Grid Among Motilal Oswal’s Top Picks In Energy Sector: Check Target Prices