NEW DELHI: The Union Petroleum Ministry is expecting investments of about $7 billion in the forthcoming bidding for oil and gas blocks under the sixth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Though oil majors had not shown much interest in the previous rounds, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is confident that the scenario will change this time as a result of promotional efforts during the roadshows.

He told reporters here on Friday that there was considerable interest in the NELP-VI, as a result of soaring oil prices and companies having to struggle to find new reserves. Bids had been invited for 55 exploration blocks in the sixth round of the exploration licensing programme.

Mr. Deora said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had been asked to be "very careful'' with the bidding process for the sixth round for which the last date for submitting bids is September 15. He said the DGH, the regulatory agency for the petroleum sector, had been asked to make changes, if needed, at this stage rather than later. He made this comment following allegations by some domestic players that arbitrary changes had been made in the evaluation norms for the recently concluded round for coal bed methane blocks after the closing date for receiving bids.

The Director General of Hydrocarbons, V. K. Sibal, said nearly 260 data packages had been sold since the bids opened on February 28.

Mr. Deora also disclosed that the blending process in the Ethanol Blended Programme (EBP) would commence from November 1. He had asked the oil marketing companies for early implementation of the EBP on a national scale. These companies, he said, had already issued public notices to commence the process of procurement of ethanol.

An official said the system of buying sugarcane extract at a negotiated price had been scrapped by Mr. Deora. Instead, he has asked the public sector oil marketing companies to call for open tenders, which is expected to remove fears of cartelisation. This decision was taken after ethanol manufacturers sought a price of Rs. 27 a litre from the oil companies as against last year's Rs. 18.75 a litre.

Meanwhile, gas processing operations at the Hazira complex of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have finally resumed to normal levels. The plant had been shutdown a month ago, following flooding, leading to a halt in supplies of natural gas through the Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline to industrial consumers.

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