Fearing poor response, the Government is likely to extend by at least one month the last date of bidding for the auction of 46 small oil and gas fields that were ‘given-up’ by state-owned ONGC and Oil India. Bidding for the auction, the first in over four years, is to close on October 31.
There are apprehensions about the response after prospective bidders complained about the quality and amount of data being made available on the fields that have been put on offer, sources privy to the development said.
For bidders to make decisions, more data particularly about size of reserves is required and making that available would require extending the deadline, they said. Also, some prospective bidders have raised concerns about the size of the blocks or fields on offer. They says 10 square kilometer offering, one-tenth of the smallest block ever offered in the previous bid rounds, was too small.