ONGC Videsh to acquire 15 per cent stake in Namibia block

The overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ONGC Videsh will acquire 15 percent stake in offshore Namibia block from Tullow Oil.

OVL executed the deal through its subsidiary ONGC Videsh Vankorneft Pte Ltd,

ONGC Videsh (OVL) has signed definitive binding agreements with Tullow Namibia Ltd (Tullow), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, for acquiring 15 per cent participating interest in Namibia Petroleum Exploration License 0030 for Block 2012A and related  agreements (License) from Tullow’s existing participating interest of 25% in the License, the company said in a statement. 

Eco Oil and Gas Namibia (Pty) Ltd with 32.5 per cent participating interest, Azimuth Namibia Ltd with 32.5 per cent participating interest and National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Pty) Ltd with 10 per cent participating interest are other partners in the License, the statement added.

The License is currently under First Renewal Exploration  Period and the joint venture partners are carrying out data evaluation for identifying a drilling prospect.

Eco is currently the operator of the License and Tullow shall acquire another 15 per cent participating Interest and assume the role of an operator from Eco under the License, in case Tullow elects to proceed into the second renewal exploration period.

The acquisition is subject to conditions, including Namibian regulatory and joint venture partners approvals as well as the grant of a twelve-month extension to the First Renewal Exploration Period by the Namibian regulatory authority.

This comes after the completion of the first acquisition of 30 per cent participating interest in PEL-0037 from Tullow in October. 

The acquisition is consistent with ONGC Videsh’s strategic objective of adding high-quality exploration and production assets to its existing E&P portfolio, the company statement said.