Panaji: State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) is eyeing collaboration with ExxonMobil to jointly bid for India’s hydrocarbon blocks in the tenth round of auctions under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy, according to a top executive.
“We are in talks with ExxonMobil also. We are looking at possibilities of joint bidding in upcoming OALP rounds,” O.P. Sinha, director exploration at ONGC, said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the India Energy Week 2026. The company is yet to get a response from the US-headquartered energy major, he said.
Queries mailed to ExxonMobil on late Wednesday evening remained unanswered until press time.
ONGC has earlier bagged a block under the 9th round of auctions in partnership with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and UK-headquartered bp plc.
Sinha told reporters that the upstream major will focus on exploration activities along the east coast, including the Mahanadi, Krishna-Godavari (KG) and Cauvery basins, and off the coast of the Andamans.
Resource sharing
ONGC also signed an agreement with RIL on Wednesday to enable deepwater resource-sharing on India’s east coast, particularly across the KG basin and Andaman offshore, with an aim to achieve cost optimization, faster execution, and improved asset utilization in complex deepwater projects.
ONGC and RIL will pursue sharing of key resources required for offshore operations, which may include onshore and offshore processing facilities, drilling rigs, marine vessels, power, pipelines, logging and well services.
The agreement is expected to deliver cost optimization through shared use of high-value rigs, vessels, logistics and specialized subsea equipment. The company also said that it will enable faster mobilization and execution by improving access to the limited deepwater services available.
On Tuesday, Pankaj Kumar, director (production) of the state-run energy major, said the company has reached out to as many as 10 global energy players to participate in its tender for the role of technical services provider (TSP) to enhance production in its western offshore fields.
(Rituraj Baruah is in Panaji at the invitation of the Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas)