India will open bidding for the first time under its new open acreage licensing policy (OALP) on Jan. 18 for blocks in which explorers like Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Vedanta have expressed interest, the South Asian nation's upstream regulator said in a Twitter post late Friday (IOD Jun.29'17). The world's third-largest oil consumer has received over 55 requests for exploring 69,000 kilometers of sedimentary basin in the first round of so-called "expression of interest" from explorers under the new policy that allows explorers to carve out their own preferred blocks for exploration. These blocks will then be opened for competitive bidding twice every year. The latest bidding process will close end-March and the blocks will be awarded in June, India's Directorate General of Hydrocarbons said.
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