Norsk Hydro of Norway is keen to take 30 per cent stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC) gas discovery block in Krishna Godavari basin, but the state-run firm is willing to give only 22-24 per cent stake.
The Norwegian company, which has already taken a 10 per cent stake in the KG-DWN-98/2 block, has the right to double its interests before the gas discoveries are put to production but it is now keen on operatorship and a higher stake in the block, company sources said.
ONGC is in dire need of deep water production technology and is likely to agree for a joint operatorship of the block but is not willing to give 30 per cent stake in Norsk Hydro.
Besides Norsk Hydro, Petrobras of Brazil has 15 per cent stake in the block that sits next to Reliance Industries' prolific D6 block off the east coast, while Cairn India has 10 per cent. Petrobras has right to double its stake to 30 per cent.
Sources said, in the event of Norsk Hydro being given 30 per cent and Petrobras also doubling its stake, ONGC would be left with just 30 per cent stake and would be on equal footing with the Norwegian and Brazilian companies, a scenario the state-run company does not want to land up in.
ONGC, they said, may settle for 22-24 per cent stake for Norsk Hydro but an agreement is some way from now.
The company is mulling an investment of $5.3 billion in developing gas finds in KG-DWN-98/2 and an adjoining block to produce 25 million standard cubic metres of gas per day (mmscmd) by 2013.
