ONGC fine with Mittal-HPCL deal

New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Monday said it had no objection to Lakshmi N Mittal picking a stake in HPCL's Bhatinda refinery, but was silent on the steel tycoon investing in Kazakhstan and Nigeria on its own.

ONGC in a press release said its agreement with Mittal for pursuing oil and gas opportunities jointly had "no clause which makes it binding or obligatory for Mittals to conduct business in India on exclusive basis with ONGC."

The release, however, did not say Mittal had gone alone in buying 50 per cent stake in a Kazakhstan oil firm from Russia's Lukoil for 980 million dollars or his taking three per cent stake in the six billion dollar Chevron-operated Olokola LNG (OK-LNG) project in Nigeria, and not through his joint venture with the state-run firm, ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd.

It also did not say if ONGC had any objection to Mittal bidding for refinery stake in Nigeria, one of the 27 countries exclusively earmarked for business by OMEL.

Kazakhstan is also among the 27 countries reserved exclusively for OMEL.

"ONGC wishes to place on record that no such objection (to Mittal taking 49 per cent stake in Bhatinda refinery for Rs 3,300 crore) has been expressed by ONGC management," the release said.

The release was, however, silent on why Mittal had gone alone in picking stake in OK-LNG even though the agreement with the Nigerian government, signed in presence of the then Additional Secretary in oil ministry Talmiz Ahmad, had clearly marked the stake for OMEL.