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Evolution of Oil and Gas Exploration in India      11



            1.4 Institutional Foundations: ONGC                   bidding rounds between 1980 and 1995.
            and Oil India – The Twin Pillars (1955–
            1969)                                             •   ONGC and OIL retained rights to participate
                                                                  post-discovery.
            To  systematize  petroleum  exploration,  the  Oil   •   Two  Development  Rounds  (1992–1993)
            and Natural Gas Directorate was set up in 1955        offered small and medium-sized discovered
            and later reconstituted as the Oil and Natural        fields  to  private  players,  with  Production
            Gas Commission (ONGC) in 1956. It became a            Sharing Contracts (PSCs) signed for 29 fields.
            statutory body in 1959. ONGC quickly recorded
            breakthroughs  in  Cambay,  Ankleshwar,  Kalol,  •    A standout success of the Pre-NELP era was
            and other prolific areas.                             the RJ-ON-90/1 block in Rajasthan, originally
                                                                  awarded  to  a  consortium  of  Shell  India
            In  parallel,  Oil  India  Limited  (OIL)  was        Production Development (SIPD) and ONGC.
            incorporated in 1959 as a joint venture between       Over  time,  Cairn  Energy  acquired  Shell’s
            the Government of India and Burma Oil Company         participating interest and went on to discover
            to develop the Naharkatiya and Moran fields. By       the  Mangala,  Bhagyam,  and  Aishwariya
            1961, it evolved into a 50:50 partnership and was     fields—among the largest onshore oil finds
            later nationalized as a fully government-owned        in  India.  These  discoveries  transformed
            enterprise.  Together,  ONGC and  OIL became          the  Barmer  basin  into  a  major  petroleum
            the  two  flagship  National  Oil  Companies          province and made a lasting contribution to
            (NOCs),  driving  India’s  upstream  exploration      India’s domestic oil production.
            through coordinated efforts across onshore and
            offshore terrains.                                Though  early  results  were  mixed,  Pre-NELP
                                                              established   a   precedent   for   competitive
            1.5 Game Changers: Offshore                       participation, leading to infrastructure upgrades,
            Discoveries and the Rise of Mumbai                joint ventures, and the development of marginal
            Offshore (1970s–1980s)                            fields.

            India's offshore era began with ONGC’s seismic    1.7 Transition to Competitive Markets
            work  in  the  Gulf  of  Cambay  in  1962.  The   (1990s)
            landmark  discovery  of  Bombay  High  (now       By  the  mid-1990s,  the  Government  of  India
            Mumbai Offshore)  in  1974  transformed  India’s   intensified efforts to attract private and foreign
            oil  landscape.  This  field  alone  contributed  to  a   investments.  Five  bid  rounds  offered  drawing
            sharp reduction in crude imports and ushered      participation  from  Shell,  Enron,  Aramco,  and
            in an era of self-reliance. Subsequent discoveries   emerging  domestic  players  like  Hindustan
            included Bassein (major gas field), Heera, and    Oil  Exploration  Company  (HOEC).  ONGC
            Neelam on the west coast, and PY-3 and Ravva      also  explored  Coal Bed Methane (CBM)  and
            on the east coast.                                Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)  strategies,

            OIL,  traditionally  focused  in  Assam,  also    particularly in Gujarat.
            expanded to Orissa, Rajasthan, and the Andaman    These  reforms  laid  the  foundation  for  a  fully
            offshore  in  the  late  1970s  and  1980s—playing   liberalized framework under the New Exploration
            a  strategic  role  in  building  India’s  geographic   Licensing Policy (NELP).
            exploration footprint.
                                                              1.8 Strengthening Oversight:
            1.6 Transition Phase: The Pre-NELP                Formation and Governance of DGH
            Regime (1980–1995)                                (1993)

            Despite  major  state-led  discoveries,  India’s   As  private  participation  in  exploration  grew,
            technological limitations and capital constraints   the  Government  recognized  the  need  for  an
            prompted     a   shift   toward   public-private   independent  technical  and  regulatory  body.
            collaboration. The Pre-NELP regime introduced     Following recommendations from the Dasgupta
            in  1980  marked  India’s  first  step  toward    and Kaul Committees, the Directorate General
            liberalization of the upstream sector.
                                                              of Hydrocarbons (DGH)  was  established  on
            Under this regime:                                April 8, 1993, under the Ministry of Petroleum
                                                              and Natural Gas (MoPNG).
            •   28 blocks were awarded through successive
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