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Saturday, May 26, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, May 26, 2007 ePaper |
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Petroleum Corporate - Overseas Investments Indian oil cos will have to bid anew for Iraqi blocks Our Bureau
OIL PARLEYS: The Iraqi Minister for Oil, Mr Hussein al- Shahristani, and the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, before delegation-level talks in New Delhi on Friday. — Rajeev Bhatt
New Delhi May 25 Indian oil majors that completed negotiations with the Saddam Hussein regime for oil blocks in Iraq will now have to bid for the same. To begin with, the consortium of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), Reliance Industries Ltd and Sonatrach of Algeria will have to go through the bidding process for acquiring stake in the Tuba oil field, said visiting Iraqi Oil Minister Mr Hussein al-Shahristani today. The Minister also said that onshore Block 8, earlier awarded to OVL, would be reviewed in accordance with the new oil and gas law of that country. "All contracts signed by the previous regime or the Kurdish regional Government will have to be revisited and amended to make them compliant with our new law," he said after a meeting of the India-Iraq Joint Working Commission. On the Tuba field, he said: "The contract was not signed and so it will be put up to international competitive bidding and Indian companies will have to bid for it." The new oil and gas law is likely to be passed within two months. OVL and its partners had earlier completed negotiations with the Saddam Hussein Government for a stake in the Tuba field, but the deal could not be taken to its logical conclusion due to the US-led attack on Iraq. Speaking about the bidding rounds, the Iraqi Minister said that his country would auction oil and gas blocks under the first bidding rounds by the year-end. He also sought the help of Indian companies to rebuild Iraqi refineries. The Minister said that Iraq is willing to supply additional crude oil to India. "We are open to Indian companies who are looking to lift more oil from Iraq." Indian companies currently import around 10-12 million tonnes of crude oil from Iraq annually under term contracts. The Minister also said that Iraq is keen that Indian companies invest in the country's energy sector and other infrastructure projects. He said the Iraqi Government was already in talks with Engineers India Ltd for several industry projects. Iraq has proven oil and gas reserves of around 112 billion barrels. It currently produces 2.8 million barrels of oil a day. The country plans to restore oil exports from the Mediterranean pipeline next month and is targeting overseas sales of 300,000 barrels a day through that route. Earlier in the day, the visiting Minister met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and held a Joint Working Commission meeting with his Indian counterpart, Mr Murli Deora. The Joint Commission reviewed bilateral commercial, economic, industrial, scientific and technical co-operation as well as the achievements in this regard since the last session. Deliberations included discussions for enhancing co-operation in the areas of trade, finance, investment, private sector cooperation, oil and gas, industry, electricity, transportation including Railways, telecommunication and agriculture.
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