Companies line up for chance at BP operated field...
The India government Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday cleared a proposal of ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp 9, to acquire Anglo-Dutch giant Shell's 50 per cent stake in an oil field in Angola for US$700-1100 million.
"The CCEA approved OVL buying out Shell Development Angola's (a subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell) stake in the British oil major BP-operated 200,000 barrels per day Greater Plutonio project (also known as Block 18) off Angola," sources said here.
Both Shell and BP hold 50 per cent stake each in the block which plays host to 6 fields - Plutonio, Cobalto, Paladio, Cromio, Galio and Platina. Block 18 is estimated to hold between 750 million and 1 billion barrels of oil.
In addition, 2 recent exploration wells - Cesio and Chumbo - are estimated to hold 60 million barrels of oil.
The sources said Shell has opened data rooms in Houston and Rijswijk in the Netherlands for companies interested in picking up its stake in Angola. Besides OVL, Petronas of Malaysia too is reported to be interested in the oil field.
