ONGC to offer BG, Noble stakes in India blocks

The country's largest exploration and production company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), is looking at enlarging its list of foreign partners with strong technology, to help it explore and develop its deep water hydrocarbon assets in India.

ONGC is close to finalising a stake sale in two of its blocks "� one in the Krishna-Godavari basin and another in the Mahanadi basin "� to British Gas. It is also talking to US-based Noble Energy for offering it stake in some of its blocks in India.

ONGC has already agreed to give a stake to Brazilian company Petrobras, Norwegian company Norskhydro and Italy-based ENI in its countrywide blocks. These companies have an experience of producing oil and gas from deepwater areas.

"We need all the technology we can get in developing our offshore blocks.

We are close to a deal with British Gas," confirmed ONGC's exploration director DK Pande. British Gas is likely to pick up 20-25 per cent stake in the two blocks.

Noble Energy is keen to pick up around 10 per cent stake in some ONGC blocks. For this the US company, which operates in the Gulf of Mexico, Argentina, China, Ecuador, the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea, is likely to sign an agreement with ONGC which will also involve another Australian company called Neon Energy,. in which Noble holds 40 per cent stake.

Noble and Neon will study ONGC's exploration data from its blocks in India over the next couple of months, after which it is likely to pick up the stake.

British Gas and Noble are also likely to tie up with ONGC to bid for exploration blocks under the next round of auctions scheduled in April under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy.