ONGC-OIL in race for Videocon’s Mozambique gas stake
21 Feb 2013
State-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp is now virtually certain to be in the race to pick up Videocon Industries' 10-per cent stake in a major gas field off the coast of East African country Mozambique.
Though there has been no official confirmation from the Indian petroleum ministry or ONGC, reports suggest that ONGC plans to ship the fuel as liquefied natural gas to a proposed LNG terminal at Mangalore.
"ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of the state explorer, and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are together negotiating for the stake for which Videocon is reportedly seeking at least $3 billion," PTI reported.
Along with Videocon, state run oil retailer Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, also holds a 10-per cent stake in the block, which may hold as much as 70 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
Other international oil explorers are also in the fray for the Mozambique stake - Videocon knows that it is sitting on a 'black gold'mine, and is seeking a full market price for it.
"Global energy giants like Royal Dutch Shell, BP Plc, ExxonMobil, Spain's Repsol and China's Sinopec also have found Videocon's asking price too high," the PTI report said.