Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) has shortlisted four global energy majors including Chevron, British Petroleum and ENI for selling 30 per cent stake in its gas rich KG-OSN-2001/3 block off the east coast.
Chevron Corp of US, BP Plc, BG Group of UK and Italy's ENI have been asked to submit final bids by third week of October, a company official said.
The four firms were shortlisted from about 13 firms, which had expressed interest in picking up a stake in the 20 trillion cubic feet gas discovery in the KG Basin, he said, adding that Royal Dutch/Shell could not clear the preliminary qualifying round.
GSPC has set up a dataroom in Dallas.
At the 1850-sq km KG-OSN-2001/3 block, GSPC is operator with 80 per cent stake with GeoGlobal Resources (10 per cent) and Jubilant Enpro (10 per cent) as partners.
ExxonMobil of US, Petrobras of Brazil, Spain's Repsol, Petronas of Malaysia, Husky Energy of Canada and Crescent Petroleum of United Arab Emirates had also put initial bids.
The official said the block had become more attractive after the company made second oil discovery. KG#15, the fifth well on the block, has found a "sizeable" oil pool at 2600 metres containing an estimated 100 million to 150 million barrels in-place reserves. The gas zone below is also learnt to be "significant", though no estimates are available.
{{/usCountry}}The official said the block had become more attractive after the company made second oil discovery. KG#15, the fifth well on the block, has found a "sizeable" oil pool at 2600 metres containing an estimated 100 million to 150 million barrels in-place reserves. The gas zone below is also learnt to be "significant", though no estimates are available.
{{/usCountry}}GSPC's earlier oil find at well KG#17 has been certified by Petrotel, the Dallas-based reserves consultant, to hold 1.2 1.2-tcf gas and about 400 million barrels oil in-place.
GSPC plans to drill 30 more wells in the block, where it had announced a 20 trillion cubic feet gas find last year. The explorer plans to invest Rs 1700 crore in further exploration of the shallow water block.