NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- India's state oil firms, which have a poor record in discovering hydrocarbons, once again bagged the majority of oil and gas blocks on offer in an asset auction, prompting the government to consider changes to bidding rules.

Fifty-two oil and gas blocks up for grabs in the country's largest ever sale mostly ended up in the hands of domestic public sector companies, with Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) receiving almost half.

Reliance, a private firm with a much better exploration performance record, landed seven blocks.

"This is largely in line with what ONGC had won in the last round but these are only exploration blocks. The real success will be if they are able to find anything," said Jal Irani, head of research at Macquarie Securities India Ltd.

Some officials said the allocation posed questions given the past record of ONGC.

"We have to focus more on past performance as a company like ONGC which has got 47 blocks in (recent auctions) has not made any discovery so far," said V.K. Sibal, head of the upstream regulator. "They have informed us on finding gas in five wells in two blocks. We have yet to establish commerciality of the finds."

The government received 165 bids from domestic and overseas players for the blocks, and attracted interest from 36 foreign firms, the largest ever overseas response to an auction.

But foreign firms were eclipsed as their local rivals promised a greater share of profits from any finds to the government. Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said the latest auction -- known as NELP-VI -- had been a "resounding success" but added: "We need to define what we mean by past performance. We need to define parameters. This will be addressed in NELP-VII." Details of the next round will be announced in March

"In the initial five years from 2007 to 2012 the winners are expected to invest over $6 billion," Sibal told reporters.

Under the latest awards, ONGC will be the operator in 24 of the blocks it won, while its partner, Cairn Energy , will run the other, an offshore block, said Sibal.

Australia's Santos was awarded two blocks.

Britain's BG -- also in partnership with ONGC -- landed an offshore block in the gas-rich Krishna Godavari basin off India's east coast.

The country's largest private firm Reliance Industries Ltd. has been awarded seven deepwater blocks in the same area.

Ukraine's Naftogas and local firm Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. won operating rights in three blocks, and another state-run exploration firm, Oil India Ltd., was awarded 6 areas.

India offered 55 blocks in its latest licencing round.

Asia's third-largest oil consumer, it imports 70 percent of its crude, and is keen to tap any remaining domestic reservoirs to help offset its growing dependence on imports.