Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.

In a bid to refinance a bridge loan taken from Videocon group, ONGC Videsh, overseas unit of state explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is planning to mop up $1.5 billion. The company had taken the said loan to buy a 10% stake in Mozambique’s Rovuma gas field.

ONGC, along with state firm Oil India, acquired a 10% stake in the Mozambique gas field from Videocon for $2.48 billion. It separately acquired another 10% stake in the block from Anadarko Petroleum Corp for $2.64 billion later.

Further, ONGC is in the process of identifying more oil and gas blocks in Kazakhstan in which it could buy stakes. In this regard, the company is in talks with the Kazakh government and in the process of identifying blocks that could be for exploration or producing assets.

Kazakhstan, earlier this year, blocked ONGC’s purchase of 8.33% stake in the giant Kashagan oil project from ConocoPhillips, which was subsequently sold to China National Petroleum Corp for $5 billion.