India to sell small oil, gas fields to private companies

India, the world's No.4 oil consumer, meets only a fraction of its demand through local sources and wants to boost private and foreign participation in its industry, dominated by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India, and privately held Reliance Industries Ltd.

Pradhan expects bidding to start in three months for the fields that were given up by ONGC and Oil India as they were uneconomical due to size, geography and state-set low sale prices.

The fields have reserves of about 89 million tonnes worth Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion or $10.57 billion), Pradhan said at a press conference.