New Delhi: After repeated deadline extensions in the government’s latest upstream bidding round under the Open Acreage Licnesing Policy (OALP), the Centre has turned its focus to financing reform, regulatory clarity and capital mobilisation to revive investor interest in India’s exploration and production sector under round X.
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The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday said it had held a series of upstream-focused engagements in Mumbai aimed at addressing financing constraints, familiarising industry with recent regulatory changes and promoting upcoming bid rounds.
The outreach comes against the backdrop of delays in the 10th round of OALP. OALP Round X was launched in February during India Energy Week 2025 in New Delhi and was originally scheduled to close at the end of July. The deadline was first extended to October 31 and subsequently to December 31, 2025 before being extended again to February 18, 2026.
The ministry said the day-long programme brought together domestic and international upstream operators, service providers, banks, insurers and consultants, reflecting a push to directly engage capital providers alongside explorers.
In his virtual address, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said recent legislative, regulatory and policy reforms marked a “landmark and progressive transformation of India’s upstream sector”. He said these changes, along with data-led exploration initiatives, had “unlocked extensive investment opportunities, particularly in India’s offshore and frontier areas,” and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a “stable, transparent and globally competitive framework” to attract sustained investment.
A dedicated workshop on “Financing India’s E&P Growth” examined whether India’s financing ecosystem was equipped to support the scale and timing of investments envisaged under the expanded exploration programme, including initiatives such as Samudra Manthan.
The ministry said discussions highlighted that as exploration and development activity scales up, capital requirements are expected to “rise sharply and become increasingly front-loaded”, requiring financing structures aligned with upstream risk profiles and investment cycles.
According to the statement, participants flagged constraints arising from balance-sheet-based lending and the impact of bank guarantee requirements on capital efficiency. Emerging risk-mitigation tools, including insurance-backed surety bonds enabled by recent policy measures, were discussed as alternatives.
Financial institutions and insurers shared perspectives on risk assessment frameworks and exposure norms, while emphasising the need for clearer risk-sharing mechanisms to enable deeper capital participation.
In his remarks, Neeraj Mittal, secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said “timely and adequate availability of capital will be a critical determinant of upstream execution,” and called for sustained engagement between policymakers, operators and financiers.
The engagements also included a session on the amended Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act, revised Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules and the updated Model Revenue Sharing Contract (MRSC).
The ministry said these reforms “complete a decade-long effort to establish a stable, predictable and investor-aligned upstream regulatory framework”, aimed at reducing interpretational ambiguities and supporting long-term planning.
Officials said the industry response to the revised framework had been constructive, with the focus now shifting to “effective and consistent implementation at scale” so that policy certainty translates into tangible outcomes.
A bid promotion event highlighted forthcoming bid rounds and sought to translate regulatory reform into renewed participation. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) presented details of OALP Round X, which comprises 25 exploration blocks covering about 182,589 sq km, with 91 percent of the area offshore.
The ministry also outlined upcoming rounds under the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) programme and coal bed methane licensing, while reiterating the investment case for India’s upstream sector, including marketing and pricing freedom, access to data through the National Data Repository and a focus on boosting domestic production and energy security.
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The Mumbai engagements signal a calibrated attempt by the Centre to rebuild momentum in upstream bidding by pairing regulatory reform with financing solutions, after delays in the latest licensing round underscored persistent investor and capital constraints.
