India to offer over 70 more oil, gas asset blocks

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) India plans to offer more than 70 oil and gas exploration blocks in the seventh round of its New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), the largest number of blocks offered in a single round, a senior official said today.

The seventh round could be launched as early as next month, said Malcolm Lall, an advisor at India's state-owned Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. ''We will have more than 70 blocks altogether. We try to have one round every year,'' Lall told Reuters on the sidelines of the 12th Asia Upstream conference.

On offer will be offshore and onshore blocks, Lall added.

The sixth NELP offered 55 blocks for grab almost a year ago and awards are expected to be announced tomorrow.

The government said it had received 165 bids from domestic and overseas players for 52 blocks, and attracted interest from 36 foreign firms, the largest ever overseas interest. There were no bids for three blocks.

India's top energy firms such as Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

(ONGC) are set to win the most blocks in the country's gas-rich offshore exploration areas, a senior official said last month.

REUTERS AB RK1902