ONGC Videsh bags oil block in Egypt

ONGC Videsh Ltd, along with consortium partner IPR Energy Red Sea Inc, has for the first time bagged an oil block in Egypt.

Block number six in the North Ramadan area was awarded to OVL and IPR Energy by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, during the first round of international bidding.

The highly prospective acreage lies adjacent to the North July Development Lease, which has been in production since 1991. The block has potential oil of more than 600 million barrels, needing total investments of $20 million. OVL will have a 70 per cent participating interest during the development phase.

It will work as a joint operator with IPR, which is also partnering OVL in exploring Block 24 in Syria. During the first phase, immediately drillable prospects will be pursued and 3D seismic data will also be collected. Three exploratory wells will also be drilled during this phase.

The OVL-IPR consortium won the award while competing with bids from British Petroleum, Petro SA, and Ludin.

The Ramadan block covers an area of 290 square kilometres in the central part of the Gulf of Suez province in Egypt offshore.