Indian firms will acquire more hydrocarbon assets: Expert

They also cited bigger merger and acquisition potential for the Indian companies

Indian state oil and gas companies will be more active in acquiring international hydrocarbon assets to meet their domestic insatiable energy demand in the coming years, an industry expert here has said.

"The Indian state oil and gas firms will be more active, I believe, and must be to secure equity oil and gas for India and to cover its supply/demand gap," said Dr Duncan Clarke, chairman of the Global Pacific & Partners International Ltd, organisers of international oil and gas conferences.

But these companies, including ONGC Videsh, should be "allowed to act both in a commercial manner and on their own account, without 'second guessing' or interference from politicians", he told PTI.

He also saw the bigger merger and acquisition potential for the Indian companies.

But Dr Clarke cautioned that international asset acquisition would become tougher with more and more companies competing to build their portfolios.

"There is more competition, crude prices remain relatively high, more companies have entered the hunt, including state firms from around the world, and of course private players," he said.

He noted that the Indian state players have built up oil and gas portfolio worldwide in the last decade.

"[But] not all attempts to acquire assets or make acquisitions have met with success."

"By contrast to China's state oil firms, Indian companies have been slower, placed less capital into overseas ventures and have a weaker footprint in developing properties and producing assets, while corporate takeovers by Indian state firms have been fewer and smaller," said Dr Clarke, who hosts a series of conferences around the world through Global Pacific & Partners.

ONGC was rated fifth in terms of Asian state players holding international oil and gas assets, according to Dr Clarke's presentation at last week's Asia Oil Week, held 2-4 October in Singapore.