India ONGC Videsh seeks Total’s stake in Sudan oil block

By Himendra Kumar

NEW DELHI, June 23, 2004 (Dow Jones) — India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd. is in talks with the Sudan government to buy the 35% stake of French petroleum major Total S.A. (12027.FR) in an onshore oil exploration block in Sudan’s Muglad basin.

“Total wants to exit the block because of ethnic problems in the surrounding areas…We are certainly interested in the block. Our talks with the Sudanese government are on…Nothing has been decided yet,” a senior ONGC official told Dow Jones Newswires.

The official declined to elaborate further on the block or its estimated reserves.

ONGC Videsh is a unit of India’s largest petroleum exploration firm Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (500312.BY).

ONGC Videsh currently has a 25% stake in the Greater Nile onshore oil field in Sudan. The company is expecting about 75,000 barrels a day from the its share in the Sudan project in the current fiscal year, up from an average 65,000 b/d a year ago, due to significant improvements in the project’s crude production levels.

ONGC Videsh, has bought stakes in upstream ventures in Iraq, Russia, Vietnam, Iran, Syria, Libya, Myanmar, Angola and Sudan to supplement domestically produced oil and gas.

India imports about 70% of the crude oil it uses, and more than 60% of its imports are from the Middle East. The country’s annual domestic consumption of petroleum products is estimated to be around 107 million metric tons.