Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Aug 17, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Aug 17, 2007 ePaper |
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Corporate
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Alliances & Joint Ventures Government - Politics Polls may delay GSPC’s choice of partner
Eight foreign E&P companies including British Petroleum, BG Group, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Repsol YPF of Spain, France’s Total, Husky Energy Inc of Canada and Statoil of Norway have so far visited the company’s data room and expressed some initial interest.
Pratim Ranjan Bose Kolkata, Aug. 16 The forthcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat may delay inclusion of a strategic partner in the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) operated Deendayal gas field in Krishna Godavari basin. The State-owned GSPC holds 80 per cent in Deendayal, where it has already struck gas. The company plans to dilute 20-30 per cent of its stake in favour of a strategic partner. Geoglobal Resources of Canada and Jubilant Enpro will continue holding the residual 20 per cent stake in the block. Informed sources told Business Line that though GSPC has set an internal target to include the strategic partner within this calendar year, the State elections may come in the way. Gujarat may go to polls in December. Naturally the Election Commission’s model code of conduct may come into play by November, disallowing the existing Modi Government to take any fresh decision. “Unless we get an in-principal approval from the government in advance, it would be difficult to close the entire process by December,” said a GSPC official. State approval is mandatory for the PSU to close such deals. Interested parties
Meanwhile, eight foreign E&P companies including British Petroleum, BG Group, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Repsol YPF of Spain, France’s Total, Husky Energy Inc of Canada and Statoil of Norway have so far visited the company’s data room and expressed some initial interest. On short-listing of interested parties, a GSPC official said that the data room was still open and one could not rule out more parties evincing interest. “For all practical purposes, we have been following an open-ended scheme and the question of short-listing will not arise till we invite financial bids, expectedly in October-November,” he added. It may be mentioned that this is the second time GSPC was trying to include a strategic partner in the field. In its previous attempt, in 2006, the company had floated a global tender and short listed Chevron, BP, BG Group, and ENI of Italy for final negotiations. On the progress of the appraisal drilling for its 1.3 trillion cubic ft (tcf) KG-8 discovery in Deendayal, sources said that the testing of the well was expected to be over by this month end or early next month. The internal assessments suggest that the well may record “adequate flow rate” to enter directly into development phase without further appraisal drilling. On exploration front, further gas strike is reported in KG-16 in the more prolific southern section of the block. Testing of the fresh discovery will be over within a week. “We are now planning to drill another exploratory well in this region of the block soon,” the official said.
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