OVL on the scent.

Economic Times (New Delhi, India), December, 2005

Dec. 10--Indian upstream major ONGC seems to be on the verge of clinching a deal that could reverse the string of reversals it has faced on oil & gas deals, losing out to its aggressive Chinese counterparts. Earlier this week, ONGC's subsidiary ONGC Videsh (OVL) was close to clinching a $2-bn deal for acquiring a 45 percent stake in a Nigerian oil field. The estimated reserve size for this field is 1.6bn bbl and it is expected to produce 225,000 barrels/day (about 11m tonn per annum) of oil after '08.

Earlier, in November, OMEL, a JV between ONGC and Mittal Investment Sarl, had entered into a MoU with the Government of Nigeria. The MoU envisages production of 650,000 bpd (32.5 mtpa) of crude over a 25 year period. In return, OMEL will have to make investments...