E-Paper
ONGC team to invest $5.5 bn in Venezuela oilfield
An international consortium led by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has bagged a 40 per cent stake in a $19 billion crude oil project in Venezuela.
An international consortium led by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has bagged a 40 per cent stake in a $19 billion crude oil project in Venezuela.
“ONGC Videsh Ltd, Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd along with Spain’s Repsol YPF SA and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bdh (Petronas) won rights to develop the Carabobo-1 block in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt,” ONGC said on Thursday.
The consortium, as a whole, would pay $1.05 billion to Venezuela as the signing amount and initially invest another
$9 billion in developing the block that can produce 400,000 barrels of oil per day. The total spending on the block over 25 years would be $19 billion.
To begin with, OVL, IOC and OIL will seek the government’s approval to invest $2.5 billion immediately as their share of signature bonus, loan to PdVSA (the Venezuelan government-owned petroleum company) and phase-I development cost.
“The total commitment by the three Indian companies works out to around $5.5 billion over the life of the project,” said a senior ONGC official.
While PdVSA would hold 60 per cent stake in the project, OVL, Repsol and Petronas will have 11 per cent share respectively. IOC and OIL will split a 7 per cent stake equally.
