Oil India, Indian Oil eye stake in French oil firm Maurel et Prom's Gabon fields

State owned oil major Oil India Ltd is looking at buying a stake in the West Africa assets of French oil producer Maurel et Prom, a senior executive at the company said yesterday.

"We have come to a reasonable stage. We have conducted technical and financial due diligence. We will now take it to the board," the executive said.

Oil India may team up with state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp for acquiring a stake in the Gabon assets of the Paris-based company.

Both companies had also teamed up last year to bid $570-million for Syria-focused independent oil and gas explorer Gulfsands, which was rejected by the board of London-based and AIM-listed company. (See: Gulfsands rejects IOC-OIL combine's $570 million bid)Oil India, which already has stakes in oil assets in Gabon, also holds interest in oil assets in Nigeria, Iran, Libya and Sudan.

Maurel et Prom, a medium-sized explorer focused on Africa and Latin America, has already drilled over 80 exploration wells with a success rate of over 48 per cent.

It holds a 100 per cent interest in 5 fields and an 85 per cent stake in 4 others in Gabon.

It owns a 100 per cent stake in the exploration fields in Omoueyi, Nyanga Mayombe, Kari and Etekamba permits, a 100 per cent stake in the Onal, OMBG and Banio production permits, and an 85 per cent stake in the Onal, OMBG, OMGW and Omko production permits.

Maurel et Prom's production in Gabon, which peaked at 20,198 boepd on 31 December 2010, was affected during the fourth quarter of 2010 by more maintenance work being carried out and as a result, the level of production in Gabon averaged out at 16,900 boepd for the fourth quarter of 2010.