ONGC Videsh to opt for a Russian partner to counter the rival bid

In the battle for acquisition of UK company Imperial Energy, ONGC Videsh, a wholly- owned subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) may take a Russian partner to counter Chinese firm China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec), which made a rival bid earlier this month.

The name of the winning company is expected to be announced in the next few days.

Though OVL has made a solo bid of $ 2.5 billion for takeover of the Russia focused Imperial Energy, the overseas arm of ONGC may rope in a Russian company like Rosneft to win Moscow's approval for the acquisition, market sources said.

Experts said that bringing the state-run Russian company on board was necessary because no company could be successful in taking over a company having assets in Russia unless it has the backing of Moscow. Sources said that Rosneft might be brought in with a 51 per cent stake. 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.

Meanwhile, Government sources here confirmed that OVL is making a bid and exuded confidence that Russia would back the Indian firm over Sinopec. 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.