Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) overseas arm, ONGC Videsh (OVL) and Oil India (OIL) will be acquiring Videocon Industries’ 10% stake in the huge gas field in Mozambique for about $2.50 billion. The Rovuma field may hold as much as 65 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of in-place gas reserves, almost 10 times more than the reserves in RIL’s KG-D6 fields.
The acquisition is expected to be implemented via a newly-incorporated entity, wherein the ONGC Videsh would hold 60% stake in the venture and Oil India will hold the remaining 40%. The transaction was expected to be concluded in the last quarter of 2013.
Both the companies, however, need the approval of the Mozambique and Indian governments, regulatory permissions and existing partners in Rovuma-1 area waiving off their pre-emption rights for the deal to pass.
