ONGC forays into New Zealand; wins offshore block

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-owned petroleum explorer Oil and Natural Gas Limited (ONGC), today announced it has won an exploration block in New Zealand

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the foreign arm of state-owned petroleum explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation  (ONGC), on Wednesday announced it has won an exploration block in New Zealand, marking the firm’s entry in 17 countries through 36 projects.  OVL had submitted bid for the block — 14TAR-R1 – located in the Taranaki offshore basin in October this year under a bidding round launched by the Kiwi government. New Zealand had offered five offshore and three onshore release areas for competitive bidding then.  The permit was awarded to OVL by Simon Bridges, Minister of Energy and Resources of New Zealand at a ceremony held in Wellington on Tuesday.

“ONGC Videsh’s maiden entry into the hydrocarbon province of Taranaki offshore basin in New Zealand will provide an opportunity to explore interesting hydrocarbon potential in the region and act as a foothold for greater participation in the far-east region,” OVL Managing Director and Chief Executive N K Verma said.

ONGC Videsh is India's largest international oil and gas exploration and production company. It is implementing projects in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam and New Zealand.

The company produces 160,000 barrels of oil and oil-equivalent gas per day and had a total of around 637 million tonnes (MT) in oil and gas reserves at the end of March 2014. The company produced 59.20 MT of oil and oil-equivalent gas in the financial year ended March 2014.