In the ninth round of auctions under the open acreage licencing policy (OALP), state-owned energy majors ONGC and Oil India Ltd, along with Reliance-BP, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta, and Sun Petrochemicals Pvt Ltd, have submitted bids for exploring and producing oil and gas from 10 blocks.

According to a notification by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), a total of 13 bids have been placed for the 10 blocks, out of which ONGC has placed nine bids and others have placed one bid each.

However, no global oil exploration major placed bids in the international competitive bidding round.

Seven of the 10 blocks on offer received single bids and the other three blocks had two bidders each. Global energy giants like ExxonMobil, Chevron and TotalEnergies, which India has been courting to give a fillip to exploration and production, did not put in any bid.

ONGC was the sole bidder for six blocks while Reliance-BP was the sole bidder for the ultradeep sea block in Krishna Godavari basin, according to the DGH.