The government today signed contracts for four more oil and gas blocks that were offered in the ninth round of bidding under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). An official statement said that, with the signing of four Production Sharing Contracts (PSC's), a total of 18 PSCs have been signed under NELP-IX. In all, 34 areas for exploration and production of oil and gas were offered in NELP-IX in 2010 and bids for 33 blocks were received at the close of bidding on March 28 last year.

Of these, 16 blocks to firms were awarded to firms like ONGC while bids for 10 blocks were rejected due to bidders offering lesser-than-expected profit petroleum. Out of the 16
blocks awarded, PSCs for 14 were signed. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had last week awarded five more blocks and contracts for four of them were signed today.