KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - The Indian government has drawn up a string of initiatives to woo back mining giant BHP Billiton, which exited the country last month, relinquishing nine oil exploratory blocks.

According to an official in the Oil and Natural Gas Ministry, the government has set up a high level meeting between officials of BHP and Minister Veerappa Moily, and was also willing to place the issues faced by the Anglo-Australian resource major before the Project Monitoring Group headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

BHP, which surrendered the nine oil exploratory blocks with an estimated reserve of ten-billion barrels of oil equivalent, said in a statement issued last month that the "decision to relinquish the blocks was the result of an exploration portfolio review and the inability to carry out exploration work in these blocks".

The resource major had been awarded six blocks under the seventh round of auctions under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy, and three under the eighth round of auctions of blocks. While the company had a 26% interest in the six blocks awarded in the seventh round, BHP held 100% interest in the three blocks it has secured in the eighth auction round.

Though not acknowledged officially by the company, BHP had been unable to commence exploration work on the blocks owing to objections raised by the Indian defense establishment, including the Defence Ministry.

However, the official said that all issues raised by BHP were still being considered by government and these would be taken right up to the highest level if needed, to placate the foreign investor into reversing its decision to exit the country.

The government was fully aware that inter-Ministerial wrangling was the predominant cause of the exit of a major foreign investor from the Indian oil and gas sector and, hence, the decision to take the issue up with the Prime Minister, following talks between the Oil and Gas Ministry and BHP officials, later this month, the official said.

Coming in the wake of the recent withdrawal by large investors like ArcelorMittal and Posco, and just ahead of next round of oil and gas block auctions, the exit of BHP was perceived as a big negative signal for foreign direct investments into the country and, hence, the government was pulling out all stops to address issues raised by BHP, he added.

The Oil and Gas Ministry was planning the next auction round, which would see 698 blocks put up for bidding.