Videocon, BPCL pick 10% each in Mozambique block

Videocon Industries, the consumer durables to oil exploration major, and state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) have each picked up 10 per cent stake in an offshore oil exploration block in Mozambique, for which the former paid $75 million (Rs 330 crore).

BPCL did not reveal if it paid the same amount for the 10 per cent stake. Videocon Energy Ventures, the overseas arm of Videocon Industries, and Bharat PetroResources (a BPCL unit) have signed separate agreements with Anadarko Mozambique for stake in Offshore Area-1, Videocon said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“It’s a good project and we have got the deal at a very reasonable price. We were in discussions with the company for more than five months. We plan to explore oil in the fields and bring the same to India for sale,” said Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

 

Videocon shares rose 0.48 per cent to Rs 273.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today after the announcement was made.

The block is still in the exploratory phase but the company sees good potential reserves. Dhoot said they would make further investments in the block as and when required, but he declined to elaborate further. BPCL, on the other hand, did not make any official statement.

Videocon is also looking at investing in oil and gas assets in Qatar and Kuwait. It has bagged oil and gas assets in countries such as Oman and Australia and in the Timor Sea near Indonesia.

In the domestic oil and gas business, the group owns 25 per cent in the Ravva field located in the Krishna Godavari basin, with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) holding 40 per cent stake in the venture. The field produces 18 million barrels of oil and 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Anadarko has 36.8 per cent stake in the exploration block, while Emperessa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), a state-owned company of Mozambique, has 15 per cent stake. Artumas of Mozambique has 8.5 per cent and the remaining 20 per cent is with UK-based Mitsui E&P.