OVL signs MoU with Equatorial Guinea

The agreement is an effort of Indian flagship overseas oil and gas firm to expand its presence in African continent

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has entered into an agreement with Republic of Equatorial Guinea for cooperation in upstream hydrocarbon sector in the African nation.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is part of efforts of Indian flagship overseas oil and gas firm to expand its presence in hydrocarbon rich African continent.

The pact was signed by OVL Managing Director and CEO Narendra K Verma Eqatorial Guinea's Minister for Mines Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima yesterday on sidelines of the 4th India-Africa Hydrocarbons Summit here.

"Under the MOU, the State of Equatorial Guinea will cooperate with ONGC Videsh to explore the potential investment opportunities within the upstream hydrocarbons sector in Equatorial Guinea, as may be of interest to ONGC Videsh," OVL said in a statement.

OVL already has presence in Mozambique, Sudan and South Sudan in Africa.

It is India's largest international oil and gas exploration and production company having 36 projects in 17 countries including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam.

OVL's oil and gas operations produced 8.87 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas (mmtoe) in 2014-15. As on April 1, it had a total oil and gas reserves of 647.485 million metric tonne of oil equivalent (MMtoe).

OVL's overseas cumulative investment up to March 31, 2015 has crossed $23.77 billion.