The Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs (SCFEA), Abu Dhabi, has awarded oil and gas production rights for an onshore block to a 50:50 special purpose vehicle of State-owned refiners Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation.

This follows award of an exploration and production concession to the SPV, Urja Bharat Pte Limited (UBPL) in March 2019 and successful completion of the exploration phase during which the company had invested nearly $164 million, BPCL said in a filing on Wednesday.

The concession agreement covers an area of up to 6,162 sq. km granting UBPL 100% concession rights. Initial exploration efforts have yielded positive results in Onshore Block 1, specifically within the 38 sq. km Ruwais area. The area includes conventional undeveloped oil and gas resources and its development will contribute to Abu Dhabi’s efforts to expand its hydrocarbon sector. This is the first full production concession awarded to an international company from the Abu Dhabi’s exploration blocks bid rounds, it said.

The production concession agreement gives UBPL equity oil rights and supplement the efforts towards energy security of India. BPCL is part of the SPV through subsidiary and exploration and production arm Bharat PetroResources (BPRL). The transaction marks entry of BPRL as an operator for development of a production concession in the highly prolific Abu Dhabi region and consistent with its objective of balancing its portfolio by adding production assets in prolific basins to its existing E&P portfolio, BPCL said.