Indian cos to bid in UAE oil field round

Indian oil companies will team up with UAE-based energy firms to jointly bid for oil blocks in the UAE, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

"In the next bidding round, Indian companies will bid jointly with UAE-based companies like Mubadala," he told reporters after meeting the Gulf nation's visiting Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

India and UAE, he said, now have complimenting investments and have gone beyond "buyer-seller" relationship.

While Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has taken capacity in India's underground strategic oil storages, state-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd and its partners have picked up 10 per cent stake in a UAE oilfield.

Energy majors from the Middle East are eyeing India, the world's third largest and fastest growing oil consumer to secure supplies through investing in downstream projects like refineries.

Saudi Aramco and ADNOC have taken 50 per cent stake in the planned USD 44 billion refinery cum petrochemical complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. "Oil producers don't want to miss the India bus," he said.

Pradhan said UAE is keen on getting Indian investment in its upstream sector. "They are rolling out a red carpet (for us to come an invest in their fields)," he said, adding that India would consider leasing a part of its third strategic reserve in Padur, Karnataka, if ADNOC is interested.

ADNOC has leased a part of strategic reserve at Mangalore.

He said OVL, earlier this month, received the first ever equity oil cargo from Abu Dhabi's Lower Zakum (LZ) oilfield, where it had recently bought stake.

An Indian consortium led by OVL, the overseas arm Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), had earlier this year acquired 10 per cent stake in Lower Zakum Concession. The consortium includes Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC).

Other shareholders in the LZ concession are Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (60 per cent), CNPC and JODCO (10 per cent each) and TOTAL and ENI (5 per cent each).

OVL has 41 projects in 20 countries from Brazil to New Zealand.