ONGC Videsh buys into Kazakh oilfield

NEW DELHI: ONGC Videsh, the foreign arm of India’s largest energy explorer ONGC, has signed ‘definitive’ agreements with Kazakhstan’s state-run KazMunaiGas to acquire a 25% stake in the Satpayev exploration block, which has estimated 1.85 billion barrel oil reserves.

The agreements were signed on Saturday during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Kazakhstan visit, the company said. The cabinet had approved the deal in July 2009. ONGC Videsh already has stakes in oilfields in several countries including Russia, Sudan and Vietnam, apart from exploration blocks. In a separate development, Kazakhstan announced that it will supply 2100 tonnes of uranium to India’s nuclear plants by 2014.