Lukewarm Response to New Nelp Auctions
THE Ninth Bid round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX) was launched on 15th October, 2010 in New Delhi. 34 exploration blocks (8 deepwater, 7 shallow water and 19 onland blocks) have been offered under NELP-IX. The first road show to promote NELP-IX was held at Mumbai on 18.10.2010. Road shows at locations abroad will be held shortly. The actual response of bidders to be blocks offered under NELP-IX will be known only after completion of road shows and the bid closing date. The present tax incentives in oil and gas sector are in accordance with the provisions of Income Tax Act, 1961. This was stated by the Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Jitin Prasada in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today.
Shri Prasada further said that the action has been initiated to establish the National Data Repository (NDR) which is a pre-requisite for formulation of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP). Under OALP, oil and gas acreages will be available round the year instead of cyclic bidding rounds launched under New Exploration Licensing policy (NELP). The Government has initiated actions to identify the potentially prospective areas for shale gas resources as well as to formulate a policy. Based on the identification of prospective areas and resource assessment and after formulating an appropriate policy for exploration and exploitation of shale gas resources, blocks would be carved out and offered for bidding.
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