• Government plans to begin auction of marginal oil, gas fields

    The government is planning to begin the process to auction marginal oil and gas fields in a month after delaying it for several months due to lower oil prices, an oil ministry official has said. The oil ministry will hold a meeting next week to finalize a timeline for the auction, after which officials will begin a roadshow, showcasing small discovered fields to potential investors, the official said. Last year, the government unveiled a new policy for 69 small discovered fields that had remained undeveloped for years due to their limited reserves, high development cost and technological constraints. All these fields were earlier owned by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL).

    The government will auction 67 fields divided in about 44 clusters, the official said. Two fields in the north-east will not be part of the auction. The fields have been divided into clusters to make them financially attractive for potential investors as they can then plan common infrastructure for fields, keeping costs low. The auction will test the potency of some of the key policy changes introduced by the government lately in the exploration and development sector to attract investors. The government has offered companies the marketing freedom for gas and introduced revenue-sharing, instead of profit sharing, between the operator and the government in its marginal field policy. Barkevious Mingo Jersey

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