OVL wins 3 blocks in Colombia

ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has won three exploration blocks in Colombia in the latest round of auctions, Managing Director RS Butola said today.

"The results of the latest Colombia bidding round were announced on Tuesday, and we were declared winners in three blocks," Butola said on the sidelines of ONGC's annual general meeting here.

This adds to OVL's current portfolio of 26 exploration and production projects in 15 countries, from where it sourced 7.95 million tonnes equity oil and oil-equivalent gas during the last financial year.

In Colombia, OVL is the operator in two blocks, in which it holds 50 per cent stake each with Columbia's government-owned company Ecopetrol. In the third block OVL and Ecopetrol have 40 per cent participating interest each, while Brazil's PetroBras holds the remaining 20 per cent, Butola said.

The blocks "� RC8, RC9, RC10 "� lie offshore in the Caribbean Sea, he said.

The company, which has six projects overseas under production, has worked out a total expenditure of Rs 45,334 crore for the current Five Year Plan that ends in 2012.