Cabinet clears auctioning of 69 ONGC, Oil India fields.

In a 'paradigm' shift, government will auction 69 idle oil and gas fields of state-owned ONGC and Oil India to private firms on a new revenue sharing model and liberalised terms including pricing and marketing freedom. The 69 small and marginal fields holding 89 million tonne of oil and gas resources, worth Rs. 70,000 crore at current rates, will be given to explorers offering the maximum revenue from hydrocarbon produced to the government. "This is a paradigm shift from the controversial production sharing contract (PSC) and cost recovery model to a more equitable revenue sharing model that protects government interest in both low oil and high oil price scenarios," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.