ONGC [Get Quote] Videsh may take a Russian partner to counter Chinese firm Sinopec in the battle for acquisition of UK-listed Imperial Energy, whose promoters may choose a winner in the next few days.

Though OVL has made a solo bid of about $2.5 billion for takeover of Russia-focused Imperial Energy, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation may rope in a company like Rosneft to win Moscow's approval for the acquisition, London-based investment banking sources said.

OVL is mindful that no company can be successful in taking over a company having assets in Russia unless it has the backing of Moscow, and bringing state-run Rosneft on board with a possible 51 per cent stake was being contemplated.

In the event of OVL being the successful bidder, it may farm-out majority stake to Rosneft and keep just 49 per cent for itself, sources said.

While ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma refused to comment, OVL Managing Director R S Butola did not take calls.

Meanwhile, government sources here confirmed OVL making a bid and exuded confidence that Russia would back the Indian firm over China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec), which made a rival bid earlier this month.

Imperial, a relatively small British oil and gas company based in Leeds in UK, has oil producing blocks in Tomsk region of western Siberia in Russia and Kastanai in north-central Kazakhstan.

Government sources said promoters of Imperial were likely to decide on the sale within a few days.

Indian and Chinese firms have rivaled each other for prime oil and gas properties overseas and wherever there is a direct competition, it's the latter which has emerged winner. 

OVL lost out the bid for Canadian firm Encana's properties in Ecuador when a Chinese consortium bid $1.42 billion. It also lost PetroKazakhstan to China National Petroleum Corp's $3.6 billion bid. In Angola, it lost out on taking 50 per cent in BP-operated Block 18 when the African nation preferred China.

Imperial Energy is an upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the Commonwealth of Independent States, and produced about 10,000 barrels of oil per day in December 2007 and is targeting to raise this amount to 80,000 barrels per day (4 million tons a year) by year-end 2011.

The Russian ministry of natural resources said Imperial's Russian Registered Reserves amount to about 450 million barrels of hydrocarbons. Independent assessment of the reserves by DeGolyer and McNaughton in December 2007 suggested in-place reserves of 920 million barrels of oil equivalent.

OVL currently has 38 oil and gas projects across 18 countries. It got 6.811 million tons of oil in 2007-08 from its six producing assets in Sudan, Russia, Vietnam, Syria and Colombia.

Imperial founder-chairman Peter Levine and the company's largest non-institutional shareholder, holds a little over six per cent in the company.

Institutional investors include Schroder (10 per cent), Deutsche Bank (over 5 per cent), Baille Gifford, Fidelity, Blackrock, S R Global Fund and J P Morgan Chase.