The Hindu Business Line : NELP VII bid submission date of June 30 not to be deferred

The Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr M.S..Srinivasan (right), and the Executive Director, Oil Industry Directorate, Mr J.B. Verma, at the inauguration of International Symposium on ’Safety Instrumentation in Oil and Gas Sector’, in the Capital on Monday.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, June 23 The June 30 bid submission date for the seventh round of New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP VII) will not be deferred.

Speaking to newspersons at the sidelines of an energy conference here on Monday, the Petroleum Secretary, Mr M.S. Srinivasan, said, “There is no postponement…We will make the position abundantly clear to bidders to factor in tax holiday issues.”

The bid dates for the forthcoming rounds have been postponed thrice earlier due to the lack of clarity on taxation issues. The initial closing date for bid submission was April 11, which was extended to April 25, and then to May 16 before finally being deferred to June. Bids for 57 oil and gas blocks are due on June 30.

The confusion came when the Finance Ministry said that the seven-year tax holidays were only for crude oil production, and that natural gas producers cannot avail themselves of the benefit. The tax incentive has been part of the NELP bid documents.

“After opening of bids on June 30, contracts would be awarded in the next two months,” he said.

IPI trilateral talks

Iran, Pakistan and India are likely to hold a trilateral ministerial meeting in Tehran in July. The Petroleum Secretary said, “A trilateral meeting is likely to take place in Tehran next month. The dates are yet to be finalised.”

He said that India and Pakistan had reached a broad consensus on pending issues like transportation tariff and transit fee at a bilateral meeting held in Islamabad in April. “Bilateral issues with Pakistan are more or less resolved. However, the main issue remaining between India and Iran is the delivery point of gas,” he said.

Mr Srinivasan said while Iran wants to deliver the entire gas to be transported through the pipeline at the Iran-Pakistan border, India wants the delivery point for its share of gas at the Pakistan-India border to avoid transmission risk through Pakistan territory. He said that Pakistan has agreed to support India at the proposed trilateral meeting on the issue of delivery point.

Bilateral cooperation

The Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, met the Iranian Oil Minister, Mr Gholam Hossein Nozari, on the sidelines of the Jeddah Energy Meeting on Sunday. The talks covered various aspects of bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, including the gas pipeline project. Mr Deora reiterated India’s commitment to taking the project forward and briefed (him) about the progress made during the bilateral meeting between India and Pakistan in April.

During their visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the Jeddah Energy Meeting, the Indian delegation had bilateral meetings with the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela and Nigeria.

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