OVL in talks with Shell to sell Nigerian block pie

ONGC Videsh (OVL) is in talks with Shell to find out whether the world's fourth largest oil company is interested in acquiring 10-15 per cent stake in its Nigerian blocks.

"We are talking to Shell because they have evinced interest in participating in the Nigerian blocks and their team was here," ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma said.

On oil shipment from the Sakhalin fields in Russia, he said the second consignment of crude was expected in the next 10 days.

"The cargo would be about the same quantity as the first one," Sharma said.

The first shipment of 90,000 tonne had arrived in India on December 2.

ONGC's foreign operations arm OVL has invested about $3 billion in the Sakhalin-I offshore block in Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin under a production sharing arrangement to acquire 20 per cent stake.

As part of the deal, the Mangalore refinery earlier this month received the first shipment of crude from Sakhalin.

However, India's hopes to further expand its presence in the Russian hydrocarbons sector suffered a major blow this summer after a Chinese company walked away with the Udmurtneft oil company that was sold by Russian-British energy major TNK-BP.

In an obvious response to Russia's question on what it would get in return for working with India, Murli Deora, Union petroleum minister, had announced in Moscow New Delhi's willingness to involve Russian energy giants in the modernisation and expansion of the refining capacity and delivery network in India to add a "downstream" dimension to energy cooperation.

India is seeking 100 million barrels a day of crude from Russia in the coming year as part of energy security.