Launching a major global initiative for attracting foreign investment in the hydrocarbon sector, India auctioned 55 oil and gas exploration blocks. India offered for sale the onshore and offshore blocks to potential investors, including Brazil's Petrobras, BP (British Petroleum) and Malaysia's Petronas. Of the 55 blocks available for bidding in the new exploration licensing policy - the sixth round (NELP VI), and the coal bed methane - third round (CBM III) of bidding in India, 24 are in deepwater, 6 in shallow water and 25 onshore. Ten onshore blocks are available under the CBM III round of bidding. The new law passed by parliament recently sets up a gas regulatory structure, the absence of which had deterred foreign investors previously.