The deal worth $900m could be signed by ONGC’s overseas subsidiary ONGC Videsh (OVL) as early as next month, reported Bloomberg citing unnamed sources.
Rosneft is said to have offered 10% equity to OVL in October 2014, a month after it sold 10% of its stake in the field to China National Petroleum for $1bn.
Located 130km west of Igarka in the Turukhansk district of Krasnoyarsk Krai in Eastern Siberia, Vankor is one of the largest oil producing fields in Russia with estimated reserves of 500 million tons.
Rosneft owns nine licensed blocks including East-Lodochny, West-Lodochny, Samoedsky, Baikalovsky, Protochny, Vadinsky, Tukolandsky, Pendomayakhsky, and North-Charsky, in the areas located around the Vankor field.
The Russian oil company is looking for investors after sanctions were imposed on the country last year, making it difficult for Rosneft to raise foreign loans.
OVL is reportedly keen to secure about 3.5 million metric tons of oil a year from Vankor.
The negotiations are part of the ONGC’s plan to strengthen its upstream portfolio with an investment of $169bn by 2030.
OVL is also planning to double its production capacity from overseas fields in the next four years. It currently owns 20% interest in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project offshore Russia.
Image: Russia’s Vankor oil and gas field is estimated to hold about 500 million tons of recoverable reserves. Photo: courtesy of ROSNEFT.
