ONGC seeks partners to boost output from over 60 small oil and gas fields

New Delhi: India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Friday said it had issued a tender seeking partners to work with it on boosting output from 64 small oil and gas fields that were handed to the state-run firm without competition.

It said companies could bid individually or in groups to work with ONGC on the fields, located in 17 areas and estimated to hold reserves of 300 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, currently buys over 80 per cent of its supplies from abroad.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to cut the nation’s dependence on foreign oil to 67 percent by 2022.

Companies that work with ONGC will be free to market and sell their share of oil and gas output as they like for up to 20 years, ONGC said.

Selected partners will have rights over part of incremental output on top of baseline production from the blocks.