ONGC Videsh to acquire 11% additional interest in East Siberia's Vankor Field

ONGC Videsh (and its wholly owned subsidiary ONGC Videsh Vankorneft Pte. Ltd., Singapore - OVVL) jointly signed definitive agreements with Rosneft, the national oil company of Russia for acquiring additional 11 percent shares in JSC Vankorneft, a company organised under the law of Russian Federation which is the owner of Vankor Field and North Vankor license.

Earlier, ONGC Videsh had successfully closed the acquisition of 15 percent shareholding interest on May 31, 2016. After the closing of the present transaction, ONGC Videsh will raise its participation share in Vankorneft to 26 percent. The acquisition is subject to relevant Board, Government and Indian and Russian regulatory approvals and is expected to close by end of 2016.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Narendra K. Verma, CEO and Managing Director, on behalf of ONGC Videsh and Mr. Igor Sechin, Chairman Board of Directors, Rosneft in Moscow on 14th September, 2016.

Vankor is Rosneft's (and Russia's) second largest field by production and accounts for 4% of Russian production. The daily production from the field is around 421,000 bpd of crude oil on an average and together with earlier acquisition of 15 percent, ONGC Videsh's share of daily oil production from Vankor will be about 110,000 bpd. The acquisition of additional 11 % bears significant strategic importance and would add about 30 percent to the existing ONGC Videsh's production at the current rate and approximately 2.2 MMt of oil and 1.0 BCM of gas annually.

The present transaction provides an opportunity to ONGC Videsh to enhance its presence in Russia and is consistent with its stated strategic objective of adding high quality international assets to its existing E&P portfolio. This acquisition also has significant strategic importance to India, both in terms of augmentation of India's Energy Security as well as enhancing India's stature in the global political and economic arenas.