Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Tuesday said it will invest over Rs 6000 crore (Rs 60 billion) annually in acquiring oil properties abroad and is currently in dialogue for buying out stakes in oil fields in more than a dozen countries including Australia, Indonesia and Russia.
"We have budgeted more than Rs 6,000 crore annually for acquisitions of oil and gas fields abroad. This figure may go up depending upon the investment requirement for developing a particular field," ONGC chairman and managing director Subir Raha told reporters in New Delhi.
ONGC's overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh Ltd, has to date taken participating interests in oil and gas fields in nine countries including Vietnam, Russia, Libya, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, US and Myanmar.
"We are talking for stakes in oil properties in South America, Central Asia, Australia, Indonesia, Russia and Middle-East," he said but declined to give details.
Raha said OVL this month acquired Austrian firm OMV's stake in two more oil fields in Sudan, that are likely to give an additional 1.5-2 million tonnes of crude annually.
OVL, which already owns a 25 per cent stake in the 260,000 barrels a day (13 million tonnes) Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP) in Sudan, will pay $136 million for acquiring OMV's 26.125 per cent stake in Block 5A and 24.5 per cent stake in Block 5B.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had last week cleared OVL's proposal to acquire OMV's stake in the two oil blocks in Sudan.
OVL's share from GNOP is more than 3 million tonnes of oil annually, four consignments totalling over 320,000 tonnes have already reached Indian shores. China's CNPC and Sudapet are the other partners in the project.
