Turkish firm, OVL to jointly bid for Libya oil

Turkish Petroleum Corporation may jointly bid with ONGC Videsh Ltd for oil assets in Libya in 2006. Another Turkish company, Calik Energy, will enter into an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation for collaboration in refining and downstream sector.

OVL and Turkish Petroleum are already jointly exploring two onshore blocks in Libya (118 and 119), where they have 50 per cent stake each, Osman Saim Dinc, president of Turkish Petroleum said on Thursday. The Turkish company is the operator of the blocks.

"There will be another round of bidding in Libya in 2006 and hopefully, we will bid together," Dinc said on sidelines of a bilateral meeting between Turkish Energy Minister Mehmet Hilmi Guller and Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.

IndianOil plans to build a 120,000-barrel per day capacity refinery in Turkey with Calik Enerji. The refinery project is likely to be executed by a special purpose vehicle in which IOC will pick up an equity stake.

"We expect to sign a memorandum of understanding with Calik in early December," IndianOil Chairman S Behuria told reporters. IOC is also looking at entering petroleum retail sector in Turkey, he said. Calik Energy and IndianOil had jointly made an unsuccessful bid for a stake in another Tupras refinery in Turkey recently.

The two ministers also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which envisages joint studies and partnerships to secure oil and gas supply in the two countries. "The parties agree that Caucasian, Caspian, Central Asian, Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and African opportunities constitute high priority areas for such cooperation," the MoU said.

The MoU also provided for undertaking LNG-refinery projects with the other or any third country.

Guller said the bilateral trade between the two countries, which stands at $1 billion in 2004, did not reflect the true potential and they should aim for bilateral trade worth $8 billion.

Adding spice

Calik Energy,IOC to collaborate in refining and downstream sector

IndianOil plans to build a 120,000-barrel per day capacity refinery in Turkey with Calik Energy

The refinery project is likely to be executed by a special purpose vehicle in which IOC will pick up an equity stake