Petronas, they said, has put at least $1.5 billion as the value for its 10 per cent stake. The final sale price is likely to be substantially different.
The Malaysian firm, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Petronas International Corp, had in 2011 bought Canada's Progress Energy Resources Corp in a Canadian dollar 5.2 billion deal to get the Altares, Lily and Kahta shale gas assets in northeastern British Columbia.
Also Read
It had in March sold a 10 per cent stake in this shale gas project and an accompanying project to turn the gas into liquid (LNG) to Japan Petroleum Exploration for an undisclosed amount.
Sources said the details of deal between IOC and Petronas have not been worked out as the talks are at preliminary stage. IOC which had previously ventured into overseas oil and gas exploration and production with state-owned explorer Oil India Ltd, is currently talking to Petronas alone. There has been no decision so far on talking OIL on board for the acquisition.
Shares of IOC today closed at Rs 219.30, up 0.97 per cent, on the BSE.