India Minister: Oil Companies To Invest $1.1 Bln In Latest Auction Of Blocks

30th Jun 2010 06:58

NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Oil companies have committed an investment of $1.1 billion in India's latest oil block auction round which was held in October last year, India's oil minister Murli Deora said Wednesday. India's oil ministry will Wednesday sign production sharing contracts for 31 exploration blocks with companies like Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (500312.BY), BHP Billiton PLC (BLT.LN), BG Group PLC (BG.LN) and Cairn Energy PLC (CNE.LN), the minister said. The blocks are part of the eighth round of auctions under the New Exploration Licensing Policy, or NELP, held in October 2009. The next round of exploration auctions will be held in the July-September quarter, Deora said in a speech at an event. -By Rakesh Sharma, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-22-6145-6110; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 01:58 ET (05:58 GMT)