OIL wants to join ONGC in bid for BP’s Vietnam assets
28 Jul 2010
Oil India Ltd (OIL) has expressed interest in being a part of a consortium with fellow state-owned company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to buy spill-hit British oil explorer BP's stake in an offshore Vietnam gas field.
''If given an opportunity, we would like to bid for BP's assets in Vietnam as a part of the Indian consortium,'' OIL chairman Nayan Mani Borah said on Tuesday. However, it is not yet clear whether the government will allow OIL to join the consortium.
The statement comes soon after it was announced that ONGC is preparing to submit a joint proposal with PetroVietnam to buy BP's stake in the gas field.
''ONGC and PetroVietnam will jointly bid for the BP's stake in Vietnam in the coming weeks,'' oil secretary S Sundareshan told newspersons in New Delhi earlier in the day.
ONGC already has a 45-per cent share in Block 06.1 in the Nam Con Son basin, off Vietnam's southeast coast, which is operated by BP with a 35-per cent stake.
PetroVietnam owns the remaining 20 per cent.
''The approach and goal is to combine our strengths with PetroVietnam,'' Borah said.
