India’s First Major Exploration Licensing Round In July

03/08/17 •lweb.es/f2716 •bit.ly/2oUmofL

India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, will conduct auctions of oil and gas blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy twice a year with the first round being held in July. OALP will differ from the current licensing policy whereby the government identifies the oil and gas blocks and then puts them on auction. This policy gives an option to a company looking for exploring hydrocarbons to select the exploration areas on its own, based on the seismic and well data that the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons has put in in a National Data Repository.

ONGC Plans to Drill 17 Exploration Wells in India’s Shale Oil, Gas Blocks

lweb.es/f901 4.30.16

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) intends to spend approximately $105 million (INR 7 billion) to drill up to 17 shale oil and gas wells located on the country’s east and west coasts. ONGC is seeking permission to drill 11 exploratory wells for shale oil and shale gas in Cambay basin at Mehsana, Ahmedabad and Bharuch districts of Gujarat, 1 prospect in Cauvery basin at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and five wells in Krishna-Godvari Basin at East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. If the proposal is approved by the government, it will be the first time that ONGC has embarked on shale exploration on such a large scale.

Barclays: Global E&P Spending Drop Revised to 27% for 2016

lweb.es/f895 4.26.16

iconOEF REVIEW:Barclays has revised downwards its global exploration and production spending outlook for 2016, now saying such spending could fall 27% this year, down from 15% back in January. Spending in North America is now trending down 40% versus 27% in January, and international spending is down 21% year-over-year. Since the Barclays Upstream Spending Survey published in January, operators representing 71% of total spending have revised budgets to reflect reduced 2016 spending plans amid a sustained lower oil-price outlook.