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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Jan. 18

OIL and Natural Gas Corporation will bid for building a 2,00,000-barrels per day refinery and for the development of the lucrative Ishpingo-Tambochocha-Tiputini oil field-cum-refinery project in Equador.

Equador will invite bids in May to build a new refinery under the project in the north of the country.

The oil field, located in Equador's eastern Amazon jungle bordering Peru, holds 909 million barrels in reserves and can produce 1,90,000 barrels of oil per day. "ONGC has expressed interest in setting up the refinery which may entail an investment of $2.5 billion," the Equador Energy Minister, Mr Eduardo Lopez Robayo, told reporters here on the sidelines of the Petrotech 2005 conference.

"ONGC Videsh Ltd has expressed interest in participating in the appraisal and development of the field in Ecuador in the forthcoming offer for it and other blocks and the Equador Minister has assured considering (the request) at the highest level," according to a joint press communication released after a meeting between Mr Lopez and the Union Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar.

According to Mr Lopez, Ecuador will offer 11 oil and gas blocks for exploration and production by May and ONGC is welcome to bid. ONGC is expected to face tough competition from Japanese, Chinese, Dutch and Norwegian companies in the auction, he said.

Ecuador is inviting foreign investments to develop the project in a bid to boost its economy and oil production to generate a steady stream of government revenues and cut down on huge public sector debt. With current production estimated at 5,50,000 barrels of crude oil per day and one-fourth of it being exported, Equador is contemplating a return to OPEC.

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