The Hindu Business Line : IOC, OIL give Devon’s Angola asset a miss

New Delhi, July 19 The consortium of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) has decided to give US-based Devon Energy’s Angola acreage offer a miss. The bid submission date was July 18.

Sources told Business Line that IOC and OIL were jointly evaluating the data for a possible non-binding bid for Devon’s Angola asset (Block 16), but decided against it as the prospects were not very encouraging. The 4,900-sq-k m block is said to have water depths of 200-1,500 meters. In June, IOC and OIL had appointed technical and financial advisers to evaluate Devon’s stake in Block 16 of Angola.

In December 2005, the Government had allowed IOC and OIL to jointly acquire oil and gas assets abroad and since then the two have bought stakes in six blocks. Apart for IOC and OIL, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of ONGC, is also understood to be interested in the assets of Devon in West Africa. OVL is said to have explored bids for those in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. While OVL sources remained non-committal on whether they would be tapping the opportunity, indications are that the company was keenly reviewing the situations. Currently, OVL has 26 projects across 15 countries.

Exploring stake

The other state-owned company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, which was also exploring stake in Devon’s asset has also decided to give it a skip. HPCL through its exploration arm Prize Petroleum has a block each in Oman and Australia. Indications are that HPCL was eyeing the Gabon asset of Devon.

In January, Devon had announced its plans to sell its assets in West Africa and focus on operations in North America. The assets put for sale are in six countries — Angola, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana and Nigeria. The properties of Devon in West Africa are reported to have proved reserves of about 90 million barrels of oil equivalent at year-end — about 4 per cent of the company’s proved reserves — and were expected to produce about 11 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2007.

More Stories on : Overseas Investments | Petroleum

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page