ONGC Videsh acquires 15 per cent stake in Namibia oil block from UK's Tullow

ONGC Videsh has acquired a 15 per cent stake in an oil block in Namibia for an undisclosed amount.

NEW DELHI: ONGC Videsh has acquired a 15 per cent stake in an oil block in Namibia for an undisclosed amount. Namibia Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 30 has given a 15 per cent participating interest to OVL in Block 2012A from Tullow Oil of UK. This is OVL’s second acquisition in the African nation.

OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in a statement elaborated that OVL, through its indirect subsidiary ONGC Videsh Vankorneft Pte Ltd (OVVL) has signed binding agreements with Tullow Namibia Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, for the stake buy.
Tullow held 25 per cent in the block.

OVL said the fresh acquisition would strengthen its partnership with Tullow and its other partners and would mark consolidation of interest in Namibian offshore projects. “The acquisition is consistent with OVL’s strategic objective of adding high quality exploration and production assets to its existing exploration and production portfolio,” the statement noted.

Eco Oil and Gas Namibia (Pty) Ltd with 32.5 per cent stake, Azimuth Namibia Ltd (32.5 per cent) and National Petroleum Corp of Namibia (Pty) Ltd (10 per cent) are other partners in the licence.
“The licence is currently under First Renewal Exploration Period and the joint venture partners are carrying out data evaluation for identifying a drill prospect,” the statement said.

Last month, OVL had acquired 30 per cent in PEL-37, covering three offshore blocks, from Tullow.
Tullow Oil held 65 per cent interest in PEL-37 while Pancontinental Namibia (Pty) Ltd held 30 per cent and the remaining five per cent is with Paragon Oil and Gas. OVL in its statement said Eco is the operator of PEL-30 and Tullow shall acquire another 15 per cent participating interest from Eco to assume operatorship.

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