ONGC-Sinopec JV acquires Colombian oil field

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd China''s Sinopec have floated a 50:50 joint venture, which has acquired a producing oilfield in Colombia with gross proved reserves of more than 300 million barrels of oil. This is the first acquisition made jointly by the two Asian oil giants

A subsidiary of ONGC Videsh Ltd (ONGC VL) ONGC''s overseas arm and a subsidiary of Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (SIPC) together acquired Omimex de Colombia Ltd (Omimex), from Texas-based Omimex Resources, Inc.

Omimex has oil and gas operations Colombia, which include onshore production and exploration areas with gross proved reserves of more than 300 million barrels of oil and current production at approximately 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

Omimex''s assets constitute a 100 per cent interest in the light oil, Velasquez fee mineral property and a 50 per cent interest in the Nare and Cocorna association contracts where the Colombian national oil company Ecopetrol S A (Ecopetrol) holds the remaining 50 per cent. Omimex also owns 100 per cent of the Vetasquez-Galan pipeline, which runs 189 kilometers from the Velasquez property to Ecopetrol''s Barrancabermeja refinery.