Government adopts revenue sharing model for auctioning 69 small oil and gas fields

By NewsGram Staff-Writer

New Delhi: The Modi government has decided to replace the existing production sharing model with revenue sharing model while auctioning 69 small oil and gas fields.

This decision by the government is likely to benefit explorers and will help in harnessing the hydrocarbons worth Rs 75,000 crores, according to a report in the Times of India.

Since 1999, around nine rounds of auctions have been conducted in which 254 blocks have been auctioned under the production-sharing regime. In this model, the companies share their profit with the government in a graded manner. Also, the government sets the price and decides the buyers to whom the companies must sell.

In the new revenue sharing model, the bidder who offers the highest revenue to the government and shows maximum commitment to work wins the bid. The government is likely to give 80% weightage to the revenue shared and 20% weightage to work commitment. Further, no restrictions will be placed on pricing or marketing.

The new model is more beneficial than the old model as it is simple and more transparent, it minimizes the need for government monitoring, and importantly it protects government's interest in both high and low oil-price scenarios. It also removes the disputes that arise during cost-recovery.

But, it has few limitations as well. It will not provide cover for risk capital exploration and may become useful for only the smaller blocks and not mainstream blocks due to India's low prospectivity, according to TOI report.