The Indian consortium led by Oil India, along with Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat PetroResources Ltd, a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd have signed a definitive agreement to acquire up to 23.9 per cent shares in Vankorneft, from Russian national oil company Rosneft.

Vankorneft is the owner of the Vankor and North Vankor Field licenses in Russia. The acquisition is subject to relevant board, government and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by September 2016.

The definitive agreement was signed on June 17 at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum which was being attended by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

ONGC’s overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh already holds 15 per cent stake in Vankorneft while Rosneft holds 85 per cent stake in the company, according to a statement issued by Oil India.

The statement added that the Vankor field in East Siberia is Russia’s second largest field by production and accounts for around 4 per cent of Russian production. In 2015, the Vankor field produced 22 million tonnes of 8.71 billion cubic metre of gas, the statement added.

“Recoverable resources of the Vankor fields as on January 1, 2016 stood at 361 million tonne of oil and condensate 88 billion cubic metre of gas,” the statement said.

Rothschild is the exclusive financial adviser to the Indian consortium. The technical adviser is CGG, Latham & Watkins was the legal adviser while EY was the accounting and tax adviser. 

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