The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) on Monday extended the deadline for submitting bids for deepwater and ultra-deepwater blocks under the 10th and 11th rounds of the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) by 25 days to December 10.

The latest extension marks the seventh for the 10th round, launched in April last year, and the third for the 11th round, which opened in March this year. The deadlines were last extended in September by nearly two months to November 15.

The 10th round offers 25 blocks, including one deepwater and 12 ultra-deepwater blocks, while the 11th round has five blocks on offer, comprising one deepwater and four ultra-deepwater areas.

In August, the Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹84,084 crore for the Petroleum Ministry’s National Offshore Exploration Scheme, titled ‘Samudra Manthan’. The corpus, to be utilised until FY31, includes ₹43,200 crore for drilling 60 deepwater and ultra-deepwater wells.

State-owned explorers ONGC and Oil India have also announced substantial investments in offshore exploration. ONGC plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore by 2030, while Oil India has earmarked ₹15,000 crore over the next three years for deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration.