Reliance Industries and its British partner BP plc have made their first bid for an oil and gas exploration acreage in over eight years by bidding for one of the 32 blocks up for auction in latest licensing round that saw mining major Vedanta putting in as many as 30 bids while state-owned ONGC is vying for 20.
Bidding for 14 blocks on offer in the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) round-II and another 18 oil and gas blocks and five coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks on offer in OALP-III closed on Wednesday.
Official sources said Vedanta, which had walked away with 41 out of 55 blocks offered in OALP-I last year, bid for 30 areas.
