Question : Exploration of Blocks under NELP

(a) whether the Government has signed Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for 26 discovered blocks, 28 exploration blocks under pre New Exploration Licensing Policy (Pre-NELP) and 254 blocks under NELP and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government has now moved to the revenue sharing mechanism under the Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy regime and if so, the details thereof along with the extent and manner in which the new policy announced by the Government will help to improve the ease of doing business and to increase the revenue of States;
(c) whether the first round of auction of hydrocarbon fields under the new regime saw explorers showing interest and bidding for 55 fields and if so, the details thereof along with the details of such fields which are yet to be awarded;
(d) whether the Government has streamlined the existing PSCs with four key changes in the policy framework to increase domestic hydrocarbon production and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether the exploration period has also been increased by two years and the appraisal period by one year for North Eastern hydrocarbon fields and if so, the details thereof

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM& NATURAL GAS
(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) Government of India has signed 310 Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) under Pre New Exploration Licensing Policy (Pre-NELP) and New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) so far. Details of 310 PSCs are as under:
BIDDING ROUND
TOTAL BLOCKS
ACTIVE BLOCKS
Field
28
25
Pre-NELP
28
10
NELP I
24
3
NELP II
23
3
NELP III
23
4
NELP IV
20
4
NELP IX
19
15
NELP V
20
5
NELP VI
52
10
NELP VII
41
12
NELP VIII
32
10
Grand Total
310
101
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(b) & (c): Government notified the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) in March, 2016 to replace the NELP. The new exploration policy provides for single license for exploration and exploitation of conventional as well as un-conventional hydrocarbon resources, flexibility to carve out exploration acreages, a Revenue Sharing model and marketing and pricing freedom for the Crude oil & Natural gas produced. Under HELP Policy, 55 Blocks having an acreage area of 59,282 Sq. Km. have been awarded in October 2018 under Bid Round-I. Under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-II, bidding for 14 blocks having an acreage area of 29,233 Sq. Km. has been launched on 7th January, 2019. The details of blocks offered under OALP Bid Round-II are as follows:
Onland Blocks
(Area 13733 Sq KM)
Shallow Water Blocks
(Area 13986 Sq KM)
Ultra Deepwater Block
(Area 1514 Sq KM)
? Rajasthan -01
? Mahanadi-04
? Cambay-02
? Cauvery-01
? Kutch -02
? Andaman & Nicobar -02
? Mahanadi-01
? Krishna Godaari-01
(d) & (e): Government has notified the policy framework for streamlining the working of Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for increasing domestic production of hydrocarbon resources on 14th August, 2018. The policy framework includes (i) Sharing of Royalty and Cess in proportion to Participating Interest of the Contractors in Pre-NELP Exploration Blocks and to be cost recoverable; (ii) Additional two years for Exploration activities and additional one year for appraisal activities for operational blocks in North Eastern Region (NER) besides marketing including pricing freedom for natural gas produced in NER; (iii) Allowing extension of notice period from 7 days to 15 days in events of force majeure in operational blocks of Pre-NELP and NELP contracts, and (iv) Extending Tax benefits under section 42 of Income Tax Act, 1961 to Pre-NELP discovered fields during extended period under the Policy for Pre-NELP PSC Extension dated 28.03.2016.
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