Bidding NEWS

PSU refiner BPCL has extended the deadline to submit an expression of interest (EOI) for the third consecutive time till 30th September. Sources speculate that the Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, Rosneft of Russia, Exxon Mobil, and RIL are likely to participate in the bidding process. Due to the ongoing global crisis, India is an attractive investment destination for multinationals.

The Government of India, today, finally invited preliminary bids for the sales of its entire 52.98% stakes in India's second-biggest oil refiner, BPCL. The bidders will have to submit an Expression of interest (EOI) by May 2, according to the bid document by the DIPAM. BPCL's stake in Numaligarh Refinery Limited, however, has been excluded from the sale and will be sold only to a state-owned oil and gas firm.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) yesterday released the list of winners of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round II and III. While state-owned Oil India Ltd (OIL) secured 12 exploration blocks, Vedanta Ltd won 10 and ONGC got eight blocks. RIL and BP Plc together won a gas block in KG basin. The government had put 32 oil and gas exploration & production blocks on auction under OALP.

Israel-headquartered Delek has made it official that it is on the verge of closing the deal with Chevron. The company informed that it has offered Chevron a package for its central North Sea assets. The bid for this deal was submitted through Delek’s wholly-owned subsidiary Ithaca Energy. The package by Delek includes Chevron's stakes in the Alba, Alder, Britannia, Captain, Elgin-Franklin, Erskine and Jade fields.

In a rather surprising move, Occidental Petroleum placed a new bid for the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum on Wednesday. The new bid tops the $33 billion acquisition bid offered by supermajor, Chevron. If successful, the acquisition will add approximately quarter million acres to Occidental’s acreage in the Permian shale, all the while boosting its global production to 1.4 million barrels of oil and gas per day.

Qatar Petroleum has planned to expand its production in the North Field reservoir. Working on this strategy, it has asked three groups to bid for engineering procurement and construction packages on LNG mega trains. The first group is a JV between Chiyoda Corporation and Technip France, the second group includes JGC Corporation and Hyundai Engineering and Construction and the third group has Saipem, McDermott Middle East Inc. and CTCI Corporation19.

The Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) bid round-II, launching on Monday, will see 14 blocks go on offer. The second round of auction has been delayed for months now. The Government of India launched OALP in 2017 in an attempt to increase domestic output and curb imports. The 14 blocks going for auction are expected to possess 12,609 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas.

According to bid information available with DGH, Vedanta-owned Cairn India will attract a penalty of $0.1 million if it fails to fulfil exploration commitment for the 41 oil blocks won under OALP. Award of blocks were based on the commitment to explore and drill for oil and gas, and government’s share in the hydrocarbons produced. DGH gave equal weightage to both these parameters.

An official probe has found Reliance Industries’ sale of its entire CBM output to itself in violation of contractual terms and state policy on CBM. The probe finding can force Reliance to terminate the gas-sales deal and re-auction further produce. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL commenced production of CBM at Madhya Pradesh mines in 2017.

The state oil giant of UAE, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) gave 25% stakes of its Ghasha sour gas concession to Italian company, Eni. As per the information from the oil major, it will announce its new partners for this offshore project in the coming weeks. ADNOC said in a statement that the further announcement would revolve around the opening of six oil and gas blocks for competitive bidding.

EPC giant, McDermott International and Italian contractor, Saipem are planning to jointly bid for NextDecade's proposed Rio Grande LNG project in Texas. CEO, McDermott informed that they are planning to submit the joint EPC proposal in the second quarter of 2019. NextDecade expects to reach a final investment decision on the project by 3Q2019.

According to sources, Indonesia’s state-owned energy company, Pertamina has sent its proposal for the Corridor block in South Sumatra. The ongoing ministerial regulation no. 23/2018 gives Pertamina and other contractors the right for extension bidding. This set of regulation will expire in 2023. Confirming the news, the Director General for Oil & Gas said “I received the initial proposal yesterday,".

The South African Competition Tribunal has approved Glencore’s $973m bid for the acquisition of Chevron Corp’s subsidiary. Chinese state-owned Sinopec was acquiring 75% stake through the sale last year, before Glencore jumped in, backed by minority shareholders and exercised pre-emptive rights on the sale. The proposed merger is subject to the condition that jobs are preserved after the deal and the CSA retirees’ medical aid subsidy is continued among others.

ANP, oil industry regulator of Brazil has permitted 6 energy companies, Shell, Total, BP, DEA of Germany, CNODC Brasil Petroleo e Gas Ltda of China and QPI from Qatar to bid for four pre-salt blocks located in the Campos and Santos Basins. The auction will be on Sept. 28. The fifth pre-salt round will be the final chance for the companies to lock Brazil’s offshore oil deposit stakes.

The Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry floated tenders for six oil and gas blocks were floated yesterday. The blocks on auction are South Jambi B, Makassar Strait, Selatpanjang in Riau, Banyumas, Andika Bumi Kita and South East Mahakam. The ministry priced the bidding document at $5,000.While the bidding submission deadline for onstream blocks is Dec 12th, bids for the exploration blocks will have to be submitted by Dec 10th.

The second auction of small discovered oil and gas blocks in India was launched yesterday. The South Asian nation is looking to quickly monetize its hydrocarbon resources. In the first week of September, the bidding for 59 fields will begin which will close on December 18. Oil Ministry informed that the blocks offered under the latest round have reserves of about 1.4 billion barrels.