ONGC, one of the largest oil and gas companies in Asia, has formally addressed Rosneft with a partnership offer in one of the latter’s Arctic hydrocarbon projects.
In a letter, the ONGC says it would like to team up with Rosneft in one of its international partnerships recently concluded in the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. The Indian company primarily wants the Russian state company to reduce its 67 percent stake in the projects with respectively ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil to give room for third partners.
Rosneft is currently about to establish joint ventures with ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil in the Kara Sea and the Barents Sea respectively.
Alternatively, the ONGC requests a stake in one of Rosneft’s Arctic licenses where international partnerships have not yet been concluded, the Economic Times reports.
The international arm of the Indian company, the ONGC Videsh Ltd., confirms that it will be happy with a stake below the 33 percent granted to ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil. If Rosneft is unable to give a stake similar to the ones offered to ExxonMobil or ENI, it would settle for a eight percent interest, the company source says to the Indian newspaper.
As previously reported, ONGC has also shown interest in the Yamal LNG, a project developed by Novatek and Total.
The ONGC does not have experiences from the Arctic, but has been engaged in offshore drilling and production since it found the huge Mumbay High field in the 1970s.
The company today produces about 77 percent of India’s crude oil and around 81 percent of its natural gas. About 74 percent of the company is owned by the Indian state.
