Cabinet nod for $3.2 billion Rosneft deal

The CCEA approved the acquisition of a 23.9 per cent stake in JSC Vankorneft and 29.9 per cent in LLC Taas-Yuryakh from Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft), Russia’s national oil company, by a consortium comprising Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petro Resources Ltd.

“The acquisition of stake in Vankorneft will provide 6.56 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent (MMTOE) and 29.9 per cent stake in Taas-Yuryakh will provide 0.5 MMTOE initially and 1.5 MMTOE by 2019,” the Centre said in a statement.

The consortium will pay $2,020 million for the Vankorneft stake and $1,242 million for the stake in Taas-Yuryakh.

Earlier, in May, ONGC Videsh, ONGC’s overseas arm, completed the formalities to acquire an additional 15 per cent stake in Vankorneft at a cost of $1.28 billion, which gave OVL 4.11 MMTOE.

“The acquisition will add 8.06 MMTOE to India’s overseas oil and gas assets,” the Centre said.

“It will also provide an opportunity to Indian public sector oil and gas companies to absorb newer technologies with Rosneft and British Petroleum. BP acquired 20 per cent stake in Taas-Yuryakh from Rosneft last year.”

Vankorneft owns Vankor, which is Russia’s second-largest oil and gas field, in terms of output.

Source: The Hindu