India's Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, who undertook a three-nation tour to promote the bid, has confirmed that the response to round four has been far better than the previous three rounds. He confirmed that all the bids would be evaluated within two months and that agreements would be signed by January, pending cabinet approval.

By far the largest bidder is ONGC with 21 blocks, either by itself or in partnership with other public sector companies (like Oil India Ltd) and one foreign partner, Cairn Energy. The nine foreign companies include BG, Zarubezneftgaz, Hardy Oil and Niko Resources.

Sixteen of the 24 blocks that were put on offer have attracted more than one bid but no bids were received for the one block in Manipur. Six blocks off the shores of Tamil Nadu received only single bids.

Seventy oil and gas blocks were awarded in the first three rounds and Naik confirmed that more blocks would be offered in Round Five of NELP, to be held from April to June next year.

However, a number of industry analysts have claimed the NELP IV bids were not that successful, citing the no-show of companies such as ExxonMobil, Total Fina and Petronas as proof of a less than successful bidding process.