OALP deepwater bidding deadline extended again to December 10
The Hindu - Business/Economy · Published 9 November 2026 · Last updated
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons extended the bidding deadline for deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks under the tenth and eleventh Open Acreage Licensing Policy rounds to December 10, 2026.
Key points
- The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons extended the deadline for submitting bids for deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks under the 10th and 11th rounds of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy by 25 days to December 10, 2026.
- The latest extension marks the seventh postponement for the 10th round, which was launched in April last year, and the third for the 11th round, which opened in March 2026.
- The 10th OALP round offers 25 blocks, including one deepwater and 12 ultra-deepwater blocks, while the 11th round offers five blocks comprising one deepwater and four ultra-deepwater areas.
- Bidding for the current rounds began on March 30, with the onshore and shallow-water portion closing earlier on June 19, 2026.
- In August 2026, the Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹84,084 crore for the Petroleum Ministry's National Offshore Exploration Scheme titled Samudra Manthan.
- The Samudra Manthan corpus, to be utilized until FY31, includes ₹43,200 crore earmarked for drilling 60 deepwater and ultra-deepwater wells.
- State-owned explorer ONGC announced plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore by 2030 in offshore exploration.
- Public sector explorer Oil India has earmarked ₹15,000 crore over the next three years for deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration initiatives.
Background
- The Open Acreage Licensing Policy was introduced to facilitate the faster awarding of hydrocarbon exploration blocks by allowing companies to select areas of interest throughout the year.
- The deepwater and ultra-deepwater portions of the 10th and 11th OALP rounds previously faced multiple deadline extensions, moving from an initial schedule to September 17, then to November 15, and now to December 10, 2026.
- Industry sources linked the repeated deadline adjustments to the massive policy push under the newly introduced Samudra Manthan National Offshore Exploration Scheme.
Prelims facts and Mains angle for this issue are in the full SWAदेSH note.
Original report: The Hindu - Business/Economy