Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora today said he hopes ONGC Videsh will conclude the Imperial Energy Corp acquisition deal within four to five weeks.
He said that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has offered to support OVL’s bid for Imperial. “I recently met the Russian president. He directed his advisor to see and help us. It will be a very good deal for the country and I hope it will be concluded in another four-five weeks,” Deora said.
SUPPORT FROM RUSSIA
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ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), had made a cash offer to buy 100 per cent of London Stock Exchange-listed Imperial Energy last month for £1.4 billion ($2.58 billion).
Imperial currently has proven and probable reserves of 920 million barrels of oil equivalent, over 350 km of newly-laid pipelines with supporting oil processing facilities and production targeting 25,000 barrels oil per day by the year-end.
Separately, ONGC Chairman R S Sharma said the acquisition, if it happens, would be funded through debt — partly as loans from ONGC and partly as bridge loans.
Sharma, who is also the chairman of ONGC Videsh, however, ruled out any plan of listing the company to raise resources for the acquisition.
“We do not have any plans as of now for listing OVL as ONGC has surplus funds to meet its current appetite for acquisitions. We may think of listing, if suppose, OVL is going for an acquisition of around $10 billion,” he said.
When asked if ONGC Videsh is looking at any such acquisition, Sharma said: “OVL looks at various opportunities as part of its mandate.”
Imperial Energy will give OVL, which already has a 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1 project in Far East Russia, access to Siberia, an area believed to hold huge hydrocarbon deposits. However, he refused to comment on reports that OVL was looking at acquiring Canada’s Tanganyika Oil for $1.2-1.5 billion.
