Essar bags oil block in Nigeria

Ruias-led corporate house Essar group has won an offshore oil block in Nigeria with reserves of up to 80 million barrels.

Essar Energy Holdings, a unit of Essar Global, has bagged a shallow water offshore exploration Block 226 in the African country, industry sources said.

Nigeria had offered 45 exploration blocks in its latest licensing round, to which no Indian company except Essar had responded. Of the total 45 blocks, 11 were in deep water offshore, 10 shallow water on the continental shelf, 13 onshore in the Niger Delta and 11 in inland basins.

When contacted, an Essar official said: "We have submitted a bid and are awaiting an outcome."

ONGC-Mittal Energy, the joint venture of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp and NRI steel tycoon L N Mittal, had preferential bidding rights over one block, but chose to stay away over doubts about the block's prospects.

Indian Oil Corp-Oil India combine, which earlier planned to submit a bid, also stayed away, the sources said, adding a total of 16 companies bid in the round.