By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Monday signed a production sharing contract (PSC) for the fifth oil block it had awarded on Aug 28, 2012.
“PSC for the block (MB-DWN-2010/1) has been signed on 10.09.2012 with the awardees consortium BG Exploration and Production and BHP Billiton Petroleum,” the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) said in a statement.
While BG will be the operator of the block, BHP, a major mining multinational, will be the international exploration partner.
The companies were awarded the block off the Mumbai coast under the ninth round of the new exploration licensing policy (NELP-IX).
The cabinet had earlier approved awarding of five oil exploration blocks to the bidders. However, the PSCs were only signed for four blocks.
Major hydrocarbon players like ONGC, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petro Resources had signed PSCs for four exploration blocks on Aug 30, 2012.
The new signing brings the total PSCs signed under NELP-IX to 18.