Panicking that shortage of clarity on taxation would affect participatory interest in NELP VIII, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had deferred the road shows, beginning from April 20, 209 on auction of 70 oil and gas blocks.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) is hopeful that NELP VIII will see successful round of bidding in spite of the grim economic situation across the world.
“We will open the data room across the world for firms participating in NELP VIII on May 20,” said V K Sibal, director general at the DGH.
“The issue on tax is clear and tax will be levied. We are optimistic that we will receive good number of bids. Even without clarity on the issue, we got 80 bids last year,” Sibal added.
“We will try to obtain a decision of the (new) government on this (tax) matter. If there’s no decision then we will go ahead with what we have,” said Petroleum Secretary RS Pandey.
