ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has completed acquisition of two oil fields. Each field will entitle ONGC Videsh(OVL) one million tonnes of oil every year.
Addressing presspersons here on Friday, Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman of MRPL and ONGC, said ONGC Videsh has completed the acquisition of the US-based Hess Corporation’s 2.72 per cent stake in the Azeri, Chirag and the deep-water portion of Guneshli fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, and 2.36 per cent interest in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
The acquisition of the stake in Azerbaijan oil field was done for $1 billion. OVL will also take over 8.42 per cent stake of the US-based Conoco Phillips in the Caspian region of Kazakhstan. Seven partners in this field have waived of their first right of refusal, he said.
The stake acquisition will entitle OVL an initial production capacity of 1 million tonne a year. This can be ramped up to 1.6 million tonnes. OVL looks at the Caspian region as an important source of hydrocarbon resources for India’s energy security needs. Vasudeva said Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) wants to reach crude oil processing capacity of 18 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) during the current Five-Year Plan period. At present, MRPL has the capacity to process 15 MTPA of crude oil.
Polypropylene plant
Vasudeva was in Mangalore to celebrate the 10 years of its acquisition of MRPL by ONGC Ltd. He said MRPL also plans to diversify into petrochemicals. A polypropylene plant is getting ready in the third phase expansion of MRPL, and a joint venture company — ONGC-Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL) — is expected to commission its aromatic plant by September.