In this round of Open Acreage licencing (companies can choose their own areas for exploration) —
a. the black -marked Vedanta (through its acquired subsidiary Cairn India) has got about 40 blocks, out of total 55 blocks on offer !! All the public sector oil companies together are likely to get around 10 blocks only !!?? Does that say anything about transferring public resources to Pvt Corporates ??
b. Another point to note is the total area on offer – about 2.8 mln sq kms, is a large fraction of India’s total land area of 3.28 mln sq Kms !!
c. Of course, the 55 blocks being offered in this round of OALP-1 is around 60,000 sq Kms, and total licencing area that will be offered also includes India’s sea areas.
D. As of now, a little over 100,000 sq Kms area are under exploration. So this round offered a large area – 60% of all the previously explored/ under-exploration acreage.
The underlying implications need to be explored in depth.
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/vedanta-set-to-bag-40-oil-and-gas-blocks-in-countrys-first-open-acreage-auction/65306057
