The Indian government is working on a draft proposal to offer upfront incentives, including a capital subsidy and liberal export rules, for foreign oil and gas companies that are expected to participate in the newly unveiled open acreage hydrocarbon bidding process.
According to an official familiar with drafting of the proposal, the government is aiming to align hydrocarbon exploration with a mineral exploration policy, wherein fiscal incentives were ‘loaded upfront’ for all upstream and downstream investments under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) bidding process.
