New Delhi, April 16 -- It is only a matter of time before a major oil and gas discovery is made from acreages offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) rounds, Ranjit Rath, chairman and managing director (CMD) of state-run Oil India Ltd (OIL) said.

Under the recently ended ninth round of auctions under OALP, the company bagged a total of nine blocks, adding 51,000 sq. km to its exploration portfolio, out of which it won three blocks (one each in Cambay basin, Mahanadi basin and Assam Shelf basin) in partnership with Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC).

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Rath told Mint: "All these blocks have been reviewed by inhouse team as well as by ov...