HELP, OALP and the Samudra Manthan mission: notes for bank exams

At a glance

The Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), approved in March 2016, is the framework under which India awards oil and gas blocks. It moved contracts from production (profit) sharing to revenue sharing and introduced one licence for all hydrocarbons. Under its Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), companies can pick the areas they want. The Samudra Manthan scheme now offers to share the cost of drilling deepwater wells in blocks awarded under this regime.

Key facts

HELP approved: 10 March 2016 by the Union Cabinet
Replaced: New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) of 1997
Contract model: revenue sharing; the government takes a share of gross revenue, whatever the operator's costs
Uniform licence: one licence covers conventional oil and gas and unconventional resources such as CBM, shale oil and gas, tight gas and gas hydrates
Freedoms: marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced
Bidding route: OALP, where companies can choose blocks from the designated area and bid rounds follow
OALP Round X: launched in February 2025 with 25 blocks in 13 sedimentary basins
Regulator: Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), set up on 8 April 1993 under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, based in Noida
Samudra Manthan: ₹84,084 crore National Offshore Exploration Scheme, a central sector scheme of MoPNG that runs until 2030-31

How it works

Profit sharing vs revenue sharing. Under NELP the operator first recovered its costs, and only then was profit shared with the government. Monitoring those costs led to delays and disputes. HELP drops cost monitoring altogether. The government's share is a percentage of gross revenue, quoted by the bidder, so the contract is simpler to run.

Open acreage. Under NELP the government decided which blocks to offer. Under OALP, companies can study the data and put forward any area they want. The government then gathers these choices into periodic bid rounds.

Feature	NELP (1997)	HELP (2016)
Fiscal model	Profit sharing after cost recovery	Revenue sharing
Licence	Separate for different hydrocarbons	Single uniform licence
Block selection	Chosen by the government	Open acreage, chosen by the bidder

Samudra Manthan (deepwater push). Deepwater wells are expensive and often come up dry, so the Centre will share the risk:

Up to 50% of the cost of 56 deepwater exploratory wells, capped at ₹675 crore a well
Up to 100% of four stratigraphic wells, capped at ₹1,350 crore each
All wells are in water deeper than 400 metres
If a well is dry, the support is not recovered. If it finds oil or gas, the operator repays in annual instalments, without inflation indexation, starting after seven years of commercial production or once half of the exploration and development cost has been recovered, whichever is earlier
Only blocks awarded under the revenue-sharing regime since 2016 qualify

Recent developments

26 Oct 2026: Operational guidelines for Samudra Manthan set out the cost-sharing terms: the Centre will fund up to 50% of 56 deepwater wells (capped at ₹675 crore each) and up to 100% of four stratigraphic wells (capped at ₹1,350 crore each), with repayment only if a well finds oil or gas.

Exam traps

HELP is from 2016 and replaced NELP (1997). OALP is the bidding mechanism under HELP, not a separate policy.
HELP is revenue sharing. NELP was profit (production) sharing.
DGH (1993, Noida) works under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is a directorate, not a statutory board.
Samudra Manthan support is a cap per well (₹675 crore). Don't confuse it with the ₹84,084 crore scheme outlay.
Only post-2016 revenue-sharing blocks qualify, not older NELP blocks.

Quick check

Q: Which policy did HELP replace? A: NELP (1997).
Q: What does OALP let companies do? A: Choose the exploration blocks they want to bid for.
Q: What is the maximum support for one deepwater well under Samudra Manthan? A: ₹675 crore (up to 50% of the cost).

Sources

In the news

Every time this topic has appeared in our current affairs, newest first:

26 October 2026Samudra Manthan guidelines: Centre to fund up to half of deepwater well costs