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Friday, 05 December, 2008, 17:10 GMT | more >>

ONGC keen to take Akpo stake



By Upstream staff 

India's Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is bidding for a stake in the Akpo field, off Nigeria, according to reports.

The stake in the yet to be developed Akpo oil and gas field was put up for sale earlier this year by Nigerian player South Atlantic Petroleum, which is controlled by former Nigerian Defence Minister Theophilus Danjuma, sources have told Reuters.

The deep-water field, operated by French giant Total , needs billions of dollars in capital expenditure for development.

The source declined to disclose the size of ONGC's bid. People familiar with the situation have said the asset carried an estimated value of about $1 billion.

Bids were to be submitted yesterday, sources said.

It is not immediately clear who the other bidders are, although there is talk that a couple of Chinese state oil companies have looked at the asset.

Interest in the Nigerian auction has been helped by major offshore discoveries in West Africa in the past few years, and by the recent strong bidding for oil assets in the North Sea and the US Gulf of Mexico.

Akpo was discovered in 2000, and lies 200 kilometres offshore in water depths ranging from 1100 to 1700 metres.

Energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimates Akpo has condensate reserves of over 600 million barrels and commercial natural gas reserves of 2.5 trillion cubic feet.

In May, Total said Akpo would come on stream in late 2008 and was forecast to reach peak production of 225,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Total said it had been authorised by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to begin developing the Akpo field on the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 130.

Total holds a 24 percent interest in the OML 130. Other partners are South Atlantic, NNPC and Petrobras.

According to African Web site www.mbendi.co.za , South Atlantic also holds a stake in Nigeria's Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 246, another offshore concession covering the Akpo field.


Friday, 18 November, 2005, 05:37 GMT  | last updated: Friday, 18 November, 2005, 09:12 GMT

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