US' Harvest Natural eyes local foray
Harvest Natural Resources (HNR), the mid-sized US-based oil and gas company in the upstream business, is looking at making a foray in the Indian petroleum sector.
By Harit Mehta & Abhishek Shanker, TNN |
AHMEDABAD: Harvest Natural Resources (HNR), the mid-sized US-based oil and gas company in the upstream business, is looking at making a foray in the Indian petroleum sector.
HNR is actively looking for tie-ups for developing onshore fields and has recently made extensive visits to top PSUs, including Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and private firms in India. The HNR team also met officials at the petroleum ministry and directorate general of hydrocarbon.
“One of our areas of expertise and experience is field development, particularly the development of difficult fields, to optimise oil and gas production through the efficient use of capital and project management. We would like to partner with one or more Indian companies to rapidly develop oil and gas fields,” Steve Tholen, senior VP and CFO, HNR told ET in an e-mail.
The company, which is listed on NYSE, has a turnover of $237m. It is primarily generated from assets in Venezuela and Russia. “The company has an expertise in developing onshore fields. It had approached GSPC to develop a large-sized field, for which discussions were held last week in Gandhinagar,” sources in GSPC told ET. Apart from GSPC, top officials from HNR met with senior petroleum ministry officials.
“HNR conducted an introductory trip to India and met with various government officials including representatives from the ministry of oil and natural gas and directorate general of hydrocarbons. We also introduced the company to ONGC, OIL, GSPC and a number of private companies,” Mr Tholen said.
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HNR has been making serious efforts to invest the surplus cash reserve on which it is sitting at present. As on June 30, ’06, HNR had $227m in cash and had no debt. The company has been exploring opportunities in India to utilise the surplus fund.Start a SIP with as low as ₹500 with ET Money App!
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