ONGC has won five of nine coal bed methane blocks on offer while Reliance Industries Ltd has clinched three. The government had received 14 bids for eight out of the nine blocks on offer for exploration and production of gas from coal seams, while the Godavari block GV(North)-CBM-2003/11 elicited no interest at all, official sources said.
RIL took two Rajasthan blocks as the lone bidder but outbid ONGC in the Chattisgarh block. ONGC walked away with two blocks as the lone bidder, and its technical strength proved too big a barrier to its strongest competitors in the other three closely contested blocks.