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A strategic Indian move – India’s ONGC acquire 30% stake in seven exploration blocks of Cuba
India made a shrewd strategic move. ONGC of India has acquired a 30% stake in seven exploration blocks of Cuba.
According to media reports from India, ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of the state-run exploration firm, signed the agreement last Thursday with Spain's Repsol-YPF, which holds 40 percent and is the operator of the blocks. Norway's Norsk Hydro holds the rest.
ONGC will hold stakes in Blocks 25-29, 36 and a part of Block 35, according to a company statement.
"The hydrocarbon resource potential in the blocks is estimated to be in excess of 4 billion barrels. One exploratory well drilled in one of these blocks indicated presence of hydrocarbons," the company said.
The statement quoted ONGC Chairman Subir Raha as saying the agreement would open doors for other opportunities in the region.
ONGC has been scouting for stakes in foreign petroleum assets as domestic oil output, which meets only 30 percent of India's demand, has stagnated and the country's economy is expected to expand 7-8 percent a year.
The company has stakes in projects in more than a dozen countries including Sudan, Russia, Vietnam and Myanmar but has lost out to Chinese firms in the race to secure energy supplies.
Last month, ONGC was outbid by China's CNPC in the race to acquire PetroKazakhstan although the Indian firm said it may submit a counter-bid.
China's oil imports account for more than 40 percent of the country's daily consumption of 6 million barrels per day.
BIZ/FINANCE ARTICLES
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