ONGC Videsh bags two oil, gas blocks off Brazil

NEW DELHI: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has bagged two oil and gas exploration blocks off Brazil.

OVL won deepwater Block 470 in the highly prospective Espirito Santo basin and shallow water Block 1413 in another highly prospective Santos basin, the company said in a statement here on Wednesday.

Brazil's regulatory body Agncia Nacional do Petrleo (ANP) had put on offer 271 blocks, distributed among nine basins, in the country's ninth round of auction. As many as 74 companies had applied for qualification for the blocks that total almost 73,000 sq km area in deepwater, shallow water and onshore.

OVL was among 24 which qualified as Operator A that included the likes of Petrobras of Brazil, Shell, Exxon, ENI, Chevron, the statement said. The company beat Petrobras and another consortium led by Perenco to bag Block ES 470, while for Block SM 1413 it defeated Petrobras and Ecopetrol.

OVL already has a minority interest in Block 10 which is under development and has recently signed the farm-out agreement with Petrobras for three offshore blocks.

Earlier, in September OVL had won three blocks, one in consortium with Ecopetrol and Petrobras; and two in consortium with Ecopetrol, in the Carribbean bid round of Colombia. OVL is the operator in two blocks.

OVL managing director R S Butola said the company had made a focused bidding for some of the blocks and it was very satisfying for the company to have won the two prioritized blocks.

ONGC chairman and managing director and OVL chairman R S Sharma said this success was a step toward consolidation of OVL's activities in Latin America for the much-needed equity oil for India.