ONGC bags maximum number of blocks NEW DELHI: The latest round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)-VII has attracted an estimated investment of around $1.49 billion minimum for the oil and gas hunt in 45 blocks in Phase-I that were put on offer and subsequently bagged by domestic and international bidders. Official sources said that the Phase-I investment commitment included $321.15 million for exploration in deep sea, $598.255 million for exploration in shallow waters and $572.75 million for on-land blocks. The investment committed for Phase-II and Phase-III, which are optional only upon a discovery, has not been assessed as yet. Of the 57 blocks offered in NELP-VII, bids were received for 45. Besides seismic surveys, 141 exploration wells have been committed in the mandatory Phase-I by the winning firms. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had recommended to the Government to award seven out of the 12 deep water blocks to the consortium of BHP Billiton and GVK Oil and Gas. Two blocks have been recommended for ONGC-GSPC consortia, while one block each would go to Cairn Energy, Reliance Industries-British Petroleum joint venture and ONGC-Oil India consortia. Of the shallow water blocks, the consortia of ONGC, GSPC and HPCL-Mittal Energy emerged winners for two Krishna Godavari basin blocks. ONGC-GSPC, Adani Welspun and Essar-Nobel were recommended winners for one shallow water offshore block each. ONGC and its partners were recommended for 11 on-land blocks, while the consortia of OIL, HOEC and HPCL- Mittal Energy were recommended for a Rajasthan block. Indian Oil Corporation, Omkar Natural Resources, Vasundhara Resources, EnSearch Petroleum, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Quest Petroleum were the other recommended winners for on-land blocks. ONGC and partners bagged the maximum number of oil and gas exploration blocks in its largest ever international bid round that closed on June 30.