India has invited Russian companies to participate in the forthcoming oil & gas auction

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next year. India is holding road shows in various countries ahead of auctioning of 34 oil & gas blocks in the ninth round of bidding under the new axploration and licensing policy (Nelp) regime.

Minister of state for petroleum Jitin Prasada said, “The Nelp has been able to secure investment of about $14 billion in the exploration and production sector.” Prasada discussed India’s E&P initiatives with 65 company officials in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday.

The surplus refining capacity in India that is set to increase from 184 mmtpa to about 255 mmtpa will provide a ready market for oil companies, Prasada indicated.

In addition, Russia’s flagship gas company Gazprom is in talks with Oil India (OIL) to develop two upstream projects in India.

OIL is looking to offload stakes in an onshore Mizoram block and an offshore block in the Krishna Godavari basin.

At the same time, ONGC has expressed interest for developing Trebs-Titov oil fields and participate in Sakahlin-3 project.

“Most of the blocks offered in this bidding round have adequate data for analysing prospectivity of the areas. Out of 34 blocks, 19 blocks fall in the areas that were not offered before,” said SK Srivastava, director general of the oil regulator, directorate general of hydrocarbons (DGH).