Indian oil cos ink pacts for 5 blocks in Yemen
New Delhi   17-Apr-2008
Indian oil companies have signed agreements for five hydrocarbon exploration blocks, in Yemen on April 13. According to an official statement, the agreements signed would be sent for ratification to the Yemen Parliament and would - eventually be sent to the President of Yemen to obtain his signature. "This process is expected to take about two months or so. Thereafter the agreements will become operational and the work on exploration and prospecting of hydrocarbon is expected to commence during 2008 itself," it said. Agreements were inked for block Nos. 82 & 83 by the Oil India Ltd (OIL) and IndianOil consortium with their foreign collaborators namely Medco Energy and Kuwait Energy Company. For block Nos. 19, 28 and 57, agreements were signed by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation with their foreign collaborators Jubilant Enpro and Alkor Petro. <b>7 blocks</b> In December 2006, seven oil blocks were allotted to different Indian companies: 82 & 83 to OIL-IOC; 19, 28 and 57 to GSPC with foreign collaborators; and 34 & 37 to Reliance India Ltd (RIL) with Hayel Saeed Group of Yemen as the collaborator, As for the oil block Nos. 34 and 37 allotted to RIL, agreements were signed in Novem-ber2Q07. In their case too, the agreements require ratification of the Yemen Parliament, the statement said.