The government has decided to auction unmonetized oil and gas fields of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to raise hydrocarbon production and improve energy security. Speaking at the launch of the third bidding round of discovered small fields (DSF), petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said, “There will be no DSF next time. Next time, it will be a ‘major’ round.” The National Democratic Alliance government introduced the DSF policy by leveraging the small fields of ONGC and OIL.

Pradhan said companies that have been awarded hydrocarbon blocks can’t indefinitely sit on discovered resources, and asked the director general of hydrocarbons and oil ministry officials “to devise innovative ways for early resource monetization, including expediting production timelines under DSF I & II”.