The Hindu Business Line : OVL set to buy 45 pc stake in Nigerian oil field for $2 b

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, is awaiting a final confirmation from the Nigerian concessionary for entering into an agreement for acquiring stake in Akpo oil and gas fields in that country.

An official told Business Line that OVL was expected to ink an agreement shortly for acquiring 45 per cent stake in Akpo fields, which have an estimated reserve of 1.6 billion barrels of oil.

The deal is estimated at $2 billion. The operators of the field are French firm Total SA. OVL would be partnering with Total and Shell in the project, once the Government clearance for the investment was given, the official said.

This would be one of the major deals for OVL, as in other overseas projects it has either 20-25 per cent stakes or complete operatorship.

OVL has been in negotiations with Nigerian firm South Atlantic Petroleum. The latter is selling its stake in the field, which would begin production in 2008.

It is expected to produce 2,25,000 barrels a day, which was equal to 9 per cent of Nigeria's current production.

South Atlantic Petroleum had offered a stake in the Akpo field, about 200 km off the coast of Port Harcourt.

Total SA holds 24 per cent of the field and Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA owns 16 per cent. The rest is held by South Atlantic and state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.

Recently, ONGC Mittal Energy (OMEL) had singed an MoU with the Nigerian Government for operatorship of at least two blocks and assured supplies of 650,000 barrels of oil per day for 25 years.

The Nigerian Government had also expressed its willingness to offer to OMEL the rights to lift 1,20,000 bbl/day (barrels per day) of Nigerian crude oil on commercial basis.

This included 40,000 bbl/day of crude now being lifted by Indian refineries.

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