ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas subsidiary of Indian state-owned oil and gas company Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has signed an agreement with the government of Equatorial Guinea to explore the potential investment opportunities within the upstream hydrocarbons sector in Equatorial Guinea.
In addition, Sudan has offered OVL three additional oil and gas blocks (blocks 8, 15 and 24) for exploration and production and has invited Indian companies to develop a coastal refinery. The three blocks are offered to OVL, in compensation for US$240m pending dues (oil produced by OVL from the Greater Nile Oil Project, in which OVL owns a 25% stake, sold to the government with payment still due).
In Africa, OVL is already active in Mozambique, Sudan and South Sudan. The company has 36 projects in 17 countries including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and Vietnam. In 2014-2015, it produced 8.9 Mtoe and had total oil and gas reserves of 647 Mtoe.