OIL-IOC, GSPC bag oil blocks in Yemen

The state-owned Oil India Ltd-Indian Oil Corporation combine and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) have won five onshore oil blocks in Yemen.

Oil India and its government-appointed partner for overseas exploration, IOC, won Blocks 82 and 83 in the third round of auction, industry sources said.

The two state-owned companies have 15 per cent stake each in the consortia led by Medco Energy with 45 per cent stake. Kuwait Energy Co has the remaining 25 per cent stake. A total of 14 blocks were on offer in the third round.

Blocks 82 and 83 are located near an oil producing field operated by Canada's Nexen in the south-eastern Hadhramount province of Yemen. Block 82 measures 1,853 square kilometers, while Block 83 is spread over an area of 364 sq km.

Gujarat government-run GSPC won three out of four blocks it had bid. GSPC, which is the operator with 45 per cent stake, and its partners Jubilant Enpro (30 per cent) and Alkor Petro (25 per cent) won blocks 19, 28 and 57, sources said. Block 19 and 28 lie in the producing Marib and Masila basins, while Block 57 lies on the border with Saudi Arabia.

GSPC lost out Block 84 to Norway's DNO. Reliance Industries had won two blocks, 34 and 37, in the second round of auction.

Hood Oil of Yemen is RIL's local partner in the two blocks. Blocks 34 and 37, each measuring around 7,500-sq km and located on the border with Oman, were among the seven blocks offered by Yemen in its second licensing round.

RIL, which also has exploration blocks in Oman, East Timor and Columbia, is likely to sign a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Blocks 34 and 37 next month.

Reliance partners Hood Oil in producing Block 9, where the two companies hold 25 per cent each. Calvalley Petroleum of Canada is the operator with 50 per cent stake. The block currently produces 7,500 barrels of oil per day and the output will go up to 10,000 barrels this month.

"Production is constrained by infrastructure to transport crude," a source said, adding currently, oil was being taken in trucks and the output would increase to 30,000 barrels per day once a pipeline was built.

Calvalley plans to lay a 250-km pipeline to evacuate crude. The pipeline would constructed in four months.