Business OpportunitiesGovt extends NELP VIII bid date by two months
The government has extended by two months the last date of bidding for the nation"s largest ever auction of oil and gas blocks to October 12.
The first of the promotional road-shows for 70 blocks offered under the eighth edition of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and 10 coal bed methane (CBM) areas will be held in Mumbai on August 8, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) web site.
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On April 9, the government had launched the eighth round of auction of blocks for exploration under NELP with August 10 being the last date for bidding. But it was deferred over ambiguity on the availability of tax holidays for natural gas.
After Mumbai, road-shows will be held in Houston (August 20-21), Calgary (August 24-25), London (September 8-9), Perth (September 22) and Brisbane (September 24-25).
Data centres have been set up at oil regulator DGH"s office in Noida, on the outskirts of the national capital, London, Calgary, Houston and Perth.
The round is being re-launched after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget for 2009-10 said that seven years holiday from payment of income tax on profits earned from production and sale of natural gas would be available for blocks to be awarded in NELP-VIII.