New Delhi: Under attack from Anil Ambani Group (ADAG) for alleged discrimination in evaluation of coal bed methane blocks, oil regulator DGH mounted a counter offensive on Tuesday, saying ADAG never questioned the criteria for bid evaluation before the tender closed.
Director General of Hydrocarbon V K Sibal, who is fully backed by the Petroleum Ministry on the issue, told reporters that DGH recommended award of 10 CBM blocks strictly in line with the criteria laid down in the Notice Inviting Offers.
"If certain bid evaluation criteria were unclear, why did they (Anil Ambani Group) not ask for clarification. While most of the bidders sought clarification, they never asked a single question in the four-month period between February (when the bid offer was made) and June 30 when bids closed," he said.
It was only on July 28 after evaluation was completed, that the consortium of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd-Reliance Energy Ltd-GeoPetrol, which was a clear winner in four out of the 10 CBM blocks, raised doubts on 3-marks for technical capability in two more blocks.
Pooh-poohing the claims of consortium that it was kept in the dark about the evaluation parameters till the submission of the bids, the Petroleum Ministry had earlier said there was no discrimination and that it was ready for any scrutiny including in a court of law.
Sibal said there was resistance about the technical and fiscal package offered by ADAG as some felt it was impractical to implement the aggressive bid. "(But) I put my foot down and told my officers that we want to encourage new entrants."
"I have come here to create trust and transparency in the system. I am not favouring or disfavouring anyone. For me the most important issue is prospecting of oil and gas and for me everyone is equal and is evaluated on the same parameters," Sibal said.
He said of the 20 marks for technical capability, two were for a firm's technical assessment of the Block and one mark was for any other work programme like new technology.
The Notice Inviting Offers clearly states that two marks for technical assessment by the bidder of the block would be given based on "assessment made by the Government/DGH."
It further stated that the information on the Technical Assessment by the bidder should comprise information about the "geological parameters upon which the bidder's application for a block is based, accompanied by structural maps, if feasible.
The bidder shall also, in a separate enclosure, furnish a geological study of the area in the regional geological context. The bidder will also provide information about the exploration strategy, prospective analysis, possible marketing plans, development and production strategy."
"The evaluation of the bid was done in complete agreement with the criteria laid down," he said.
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Sources said Anil Ambani Group's assessment of the two blocks in question made a similar reading with the block data made available in the offer document and data package while the winner gave 40 pages of its in-house assessment.
For the any other work programme, RNRL-REL quoted a uniform $100,000 each for all the 10 blocks it had bid for.
The Arrow-led consortium made higher commitments - $200,000 and $500,000.
Sources said for Block TR-CBM-2005/III, RNRL-REL got one mark for technical assessment and 0.1 for any other work while Arrow got two and 0.2 marks respectively. For MR-CBM-2005/III, RNRL-REL got 1.5 and 0.1 marks for technical assessment and any other work programme while Arrow got 1.8 and 0.8 marks.
To make two marks for Technical Assessment objective, it was sub-divided into geological parameters, structural maps, regional geological study and possible marketing plan (0.2 marks each), exploration strategy, prospectivity analysis and development and production strategy (0.4 marks each) before the bid closed on June 30, Sibal said.
Marking for evaluation of any other work in a pre-closure statement was to be done on the basis of the highest budget estimate - the maximum point of 1 being alloted to the highest bidder and other bidders alloted points pro-rata.
He said REL-RNRL-GeoPetrol consortium bagged the maximum 35 marks for fiscal packages for both the blocks while the consortium of Arrow-GAIL-EIG-Tata got 27.002 marks.
The Anil Ambani-led consortium got 44.1 marks for work programme in both the blocks while the Arrow-led combine managed 44.5 marks for TR-CBM-2005/III (Tatapani-Ramkola block in Chhattisgarh) and 44.8 for MR-CBM-2005/III (Mand-Raigarh block in Chhattisgarh).
Off the 20 marks for technical assessment, REL-RNRL got 3.893 and 4.393 marks while Arrow-led group got 12.704 and 12.502 marks respectively, the official said.
"The assessment of the blocks was done in most objective and transparent manner. The award of the blocks has been cleared by Committee of Secretaries and is now before the Cabinet," he said, adding that the process can stand in any court of law.
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