India to Launch Latest Auction Round of Oil, Gas Blocks Later This Fiscal

India will conduction next round of auction of oil and gas blocks under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) by the end of 2015-16 fiscal, country’s petroleum minister said Friday.

The minister added that the government is mulling to introduce open acreage system and also plans to change the formula for production sharing agreement, Press Trust of India reported. 

"In this financial year, only 10th round of auction will be held. We are talking to stakeholders. We are talking to international experts... We are observing the different models of the world (for the NELP-X round)," the minister said.

As per the open acreage system the bidding and award of acreages will be a continuous, demand-based process. There will also be new acreage policy under anybody can bid for any acreage, according to their own requirement, the minister said.

The government is also planning to allow the bidder or contractor to extract any unconventional hydrocarbons (other than oil and gas) if found, Press Trust quoted the minister as saying.