New Delhi, Feb. 11 -- The Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas on Tuesday launched the tenth round of bidding for oil and gas exploration & production under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP). With 25 blocks on offer across 1.91 lakh square kilometres, this is the largest bid round in terms of acreage offered in a single bid round under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy.

The tenth round was launched during the inaugural day of the India Energy Week (IEW) in New Delhi.

The blocks on offer are spread over 13 sedimentary basins. Of the total blocks on offer, 16 blocks with an area of 97,919.6 sq. km (51%) fall in the earlier 'no-go' area. About six blocks are on land, another six blocks are in shallow water area...