IndianOil looking for partners for expansion
New Delhi   18-Feb-2008
Turning aggressive on acquiring oil and gas blocks under the seventh round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), State-run IndianOil is on the lookout for international players, especially from the U.S. Reliance sources said that IndianOil was holding talks with global majors such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Petrobas to jointly bid for oil and gas blocks in the Seventh round of NELP. IndianOil Chairman, Sarthak Behuria, who recently took part in the road shows held for the NELP-VII, is learnt to have established contacts with representatives of Exxon Mobil and Chevron of the U.S. and Brazil's Petrobas. It is understood that the company has opened negotiation channels with domestic companies such as Reliance, Gas Authority of India (GAIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) for forging future joint ventures. Bidding of the 57 oil and gas blocks on offer, nine are in shallow water, 19 in deep sea and 29 onshore. IndianOil is looking at bidding for nine shallow water blocks on offer as an operator. The bids for NELP-VII will close on April 11. Mr. Behuria said that IndianOil had bought data packages for eight to nine blocks and would be bidding on its own for the nine small blocks. For the other blocks, the IndianOil would need an experienced oil and gas producer to qualify for the bidding.