Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced the offering of 50 new blocks for oil and gas exploration in India, marking a significant milestone in the energy sector. These blocks include 25 under the 10th round of the oil exploration and licensing policy and 55 fields across 9 contract blocks for discovered small fields. Additionally, 16 blocks are part of Special CBM Bid Rounds 2025 and 2026.
Puri highlighted the country’s focus on unlocking the potential of India’s sedimentary basins, emphasizing the introduction of a unified regulatory framework enabled by recent legislative amendments. The new framework aims to streamline operations by delinking petroleum activities from mining, adopting a revenue-sharing contract model, and introducing a single license for conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons.
The offered exploration and production blocks cover a total area of around 183,000 sq km, encompassing onland, shallow water, deepwater, and ultra-deepwater areas. To attract investors, the terms of the contracts ensure rights retention throughout the duration, fixed revenue sharing in certain basins, and graded reduced royalty rates for offshore blocks. The bid Round-IV for discovered small fields features 55 discoveries across 9 contract areas, offering incentives like reduced royalties and marketing freedom for oil and gas companies.
In a bid to facilitate business operations, the government is incentivizing expedited production to support India’s economic growth and self-reliance. Puri also mentioned the provision for extensions in work programs, swapping work programs across discoveries, and the non-mandatory requirement of prior oil and gas experience for investors participating in the bidding rounds.
