NEW DELHI - India's
thrust to attain oil security through acquisition abroad
will produce its first fruit this month when the US$200
million investment in a Vietnamese offshore field will
start producing gas, Federal Petroleum Minister Ram Naik
said Wednesday.
The US$1.3 billion Nam Con Son
project, where Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh
Ltd (OVL) has acquired 45 percent stake, should start
producing 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually
from December 6, he told a seminar on the petroleum
sector here. OVL, the overseas arm of state-run
exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, would
give US$60 million in revenue annually from the venture.
The project would transmit gas along a 399km
pipeline, the world's longest gas-and-liquid pipeline,
to a power complex south of commercial hub Ho Chi Minh
City, he said. At the initial stage, the basin, which is
located 360 km off southern Vietnam, would see 2.7
million cubic meter of gas per day. OVL's Vietnam
venture has British Petroleum, with a 26.66 percent
stake, as operator while PetroVietnam, the national oil
company of Vietnam, has a 15 percent stake. The
remaining 13.33 percent stake is with Statoil.
Naik said OVL has invested about US$200 million
in the venture that should also produce 0.1 million
tonnes of light oil condensate annually, of which
India's share should be around US$4-5 million. The
project should pay off the investments in four years.
