Govt extends OALP-X XI bidding deadlines again to Dec 10

New Delhi, Nov 9 (PTI) The government has extended the deadline for submitting bids for deepsea oil and gas exploration blocks under its 10th and 11th Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) rounds by almost a month, giving prospective investors until December 10, 2026, to submit offers for deepwater and ultra-deepwater acreage.

     The latest extension marks the seventh postponement for OALP-X and the third for OALP-XI, underscoring the challenges of attracting investment into India's technically complex offshore exploration sector despite a series of policy and fiscal measures aimed at improving its attractiveness.

     The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the upstream oil and gas nodal agency of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, on its website that bids for the deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks offered in OALP Bid Round-X and OALP Bid Round-XI is now December 10.

     While the DGH did not specify the reasons for the latest postponement, industry sources said the move may be linked to the recently announced Rs 84,084 crore Samundra Manthan National Offshore Exploration Scheme.

     The guidelines of the scheme, under which the government will bear up to 50 per cent of the cost of drilling deepsea and ultra deepsea wells, were announced on October 22 and the extension gives companies additional time to evaluate the revised policy and financial support framework, they said.

     OALP-X: The The tenth bid round under OALP was launched in February 2025, offering 25 blocks covering about 1,82,589 sq km across 13 sedimentary basins, making it the largest bid round by acreage at the time.

     The round included six onshore blocks, as many shallow-water blocks, one deepwater block and 12 ultra-deepwater blocks. Of the total acreage, 19 blocks are offshore, with 13 deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks covering about 124,327 sq km.

     According to the DGH, bidding for onshore and shallow-water blocks closed on June 19, 2026, while the deadline for deepwater and ultra-deepwater acreage was subsequently extended first till September 17, then to November 15. The deadline has now been extended till December 10.

     OALP-X has now seen seven extensions of its bid deadline. Bidding was originally scheduled to close at the end of July 2025, but the deadline was extended to October 31 and again to December 31, 2025. The deadline was then extended till February 18, 2026 before being extended to June 19.

     OALP-XI: OALP-XI was launched in March 2026 with 21 blocks covering 80,234.49 sq km across 11 sedimentary basins. The round comprises 12 onshore blocks, four shallow-water blocks, one deepwater block and four ultra-deepwater blocks. Nine of the blocks are offshore, covering about 45,296 sq km.

     Bidding began on March 30, with the onshore and shallow-water portion closing on June 19. The remaining deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks had previously been given a September 17 deadline, then again till November 15 and now till December 10.

     The latest extension comes shortly after the government released the operating guidelines for its Rs 84,084-crore Samudra Manthan National Offshore Exploration Scheme on October 22, providing greater clarity on the financial support available for deepwater exploration.

     The scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet in July, provides for government support of up to 50 per cent of eligible deepwater exploration drilling costs, subject to a ceiling of Rs 675 crore per well. Its operational framework is expected to be an important consideration for companies evaluating the economics of India's frontier offshore acreage.

     Industry sources said the latest extension gives prospective bidders additional time to assess the scheme's provisions alongside the geological prospects, investment requirements and contractual terms of the blocks on offer.

     The Samudra Manthan scheme has an approved outlay of Rs 84,084 crore through FY31 and aims to unlock more than 600 million tonnes of additional oil-equivalent hydrocarbon resources.

     Its components include Rs 28,534 crore financial support for offshore seismic data acquisition and processing, Rs 43,200 crore for accelerated offshore exploration, including drilling of 60 deepwater exploration wells, Rs 10,000 crore for common offshore infrastructure and Rs 2,000 crore for oil and gas manufacturing and services zones.

     The government support for eligible drilling costs is capped at Rs 675 crore per well or 50 per cent of the eligible cost, whichever is lower. The framework is intended to share part of the financial risk associated with frontier exploration and encourage companies to undertake drilling in areas where commercial prospects remain uncertain.

     A single deepwater exploratory well can cost an estimated USD 125 million to USD 150 million, according to the Petroleum Ministry, highlighting the scale of investment involved.

     India imports more than 88 per cent of its crude oil requirements, making new discoveries and the development of domestic resources important components of its energy-security strategy.

     The OALP framework, introduced under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy in 2016, was designed to move away from a government-led identification of exploration blocks towards an investor-driven system in which companies can express interest in acreage.

     The broader reform programme has included a shift from production-sharing contracts to revenue-sharing arrangements, marketing and pricing freedom for produced hydrocarbons, amendments to the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act and revised contractual provisions.

     The government has also opened up a substantial portion of previously restricted offshore acreage for exploration.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)