Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005 |
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate
-
Mergers & Acquisitions ONGC eyeing EnCana's stake in Ecuadorian fields — In race for Yukos assets Our Bureau
New Delhi , Jan. 10 THE Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is in the race for picking up Canadian firm EnCana's stake in a cluster of oil fields in Ecuador. The state-owned company is also in talks with Russia for picking up stake in the assets of oil major Yukos. "We have bid (for EnCana oil fields)," the ONGC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Subir Raha, told presspersons here. He, however, refused to divulge details of the bid. ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the company's foreign arm, has bid for the assets, which include the Canadian firm's stake in the Amazon blocks 14, 17 and Tarapoa, with a combined output of 66,891 barrels of oil per day. OVL is pitched against PetroChina for the EnCana assets. "As we understand from reports, there are three companies in the race, one of them being a western oil company," he said. On Yukos, he said, "ONGC is in touch with the concerned Russian authorities.'' Officials indicated that the company is eyeing 10-15 per cent stake in Yuganskneftegaz (Yugansk), the main production unit of Yukos. "ONGC has an agreement with Rosneft (which acquired Yugansk) and it may farm into one of the oil fields of Yugansk," a senior official said. Russia had stated that Yugansk assets would be spun off into a new state company that would possibly bring in Chinese investment. Asked if ONGC was interested in buying out energy firm Unocal, Mr Raha said, "We have not taken any view on that...we are aware of that (Unocal being up for sale)." ONGC is seeking overseas petroleum assets as its domestic output has declined and no large fields have been discovered recently in India, which imports 70 per cent of its crude oil requirements. OVL has operations in 10 countries including Vietnam, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar and Australia, and has the backing of the Oil Ministry, which wants the company to spend at least $1 billion a year to acquire foreign operations. EnCana owns a 36.26 per cent stake in a new 4,50,000 bpd heavy crude pipeline from the Amazon oil blocks to the Pacific coast, and has reserved space to ship more than 1,08,000 bpd. It also owns a 40 per cent stake in oil block 15, operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp. Ecuador has threatened to withdraw Occidental's contract for awarding this stake without obtaining permission from authorities. Mr Raha said ONGC is pursuing other opportunities in Russia including Sakhalin-3. It is a partner with Rosneft in the $4.5-billion ExxonMobil-led Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project off Siberia's cost. Each has a 20 per cent stake.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|