The price of natural gas from legacy fields allocated to state-owned ONGC without auction has been reduced from USD 6.75 to USD 6.41 per million British thermal units (mmBtu)
ONGC and Oil India Ltd, upstream oil exploration and production firms, will gain from the announcement as they are required to pay the windfall tax on their crude oil output.
As of September 30, the windfall tax on petroleum crude has been increased to Rs 12,100 per ton, up from Rs 10,000. This move allows the government to generate additional funds for subsidizing LPG and CNG prices for consumers.
BPCL said it will exit Numaligarh refinery in Assam by selling its entire stake to a consortium of Oil India Ltd and Engineers India Ltd for Rs 9,876 crore.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said with the latest bid round, the government has in the last four years awarded 1.56 lakh square kilometre of acreage for finding and producing oil and gas.
The government had offered 11 blocks for exploration and production of oil and gas in the fifth bid round under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OLAP). A total of 12 bids seven bids by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)
