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ONGC Videsh in talks for Myanmar exploration

ONGC Videsh, a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is in talks with Korea's Daewoo International Corp and Indonesia's Pertamina, for investments in exploration blocks in Myanmar, a senior official said on Monday.

"We are in talks with many companies including Daewoo and Pertamina for exploration blocks in the region," the official who did not wish to be named told Reuters.

He declined to give details of the discussions.

The Financial Express newspaper said on Monday ONGC Videsh was in advanced negotiations with Daewoo International to pick up a 30 per cent stake in the Arakan offshore exploration block, near Myanmar's border with Bangladesh.

The block in the Bengal basin is estimated to have eight trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, it said.

The paper quoting unnamed sources said ONGC Videsh was also in talks with Indonesia's state-run oil company Pertamina for investing in two blocks in Moattama offshore.

ONGC Videsh has been seeking opportunities abroad as the domestic output of state-run ONGC, India's largest oil exploration firm, has been falling because its main oil fields are declining.

It is already negotiating for exploration blocks in Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Algeria, Libya and Venezuela.

ONGC Videsh currently has a 20-per cent stake in the giant Russian field, Sakhalin-1 and a 45-per cent stake in a gas field in Vietnam.

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