NEW DELHI: India and China have come together once again to jointly bid for a stake in an oil venture in faraway Colombia for some $800 million.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp, and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) have jointly submitted a bid to acquire stake in the Ominex de Colombia - a subsidiary of the Texas-based Ominex Resources Inc.

“Ominex de Colombia owns a 50-percent stake in around oilfields in Colombia. The remaining stake is held by the Colombian national oil company - Ecopetrol,” an official told IANS.

The company has net proven reserves of around 157 million barrels of oil and gets about 9,450 barrels of oil per day as its share from the Colombian fields.

In December last year, OVL and China National Petroleum Co International had jointly acquired 37-percent stake of a Canadian oil company PetroCanada in a Syrian oilfield for $484 million.

OVL - which has around two-dozen assets overseas in 13 countries - and Sinopec submitted their bid last week and plan to hold equal stakes in Ominex de Colombia. Gaffney Cline Associates and UBS are their advisors for the bid.

“If Ominex agrees on the bid price then the matter will go for approval of empowered committee of secretaries and the cabinet,” an official said.

ONGC Videsh had last month finalised the acquisition of 15 percent stake in a Brazilian oil company, marking its foray into the South America exploration activity.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries is also reported to be in talks to acquire stakes in an oil field in the South American nation.

The diversified conglomerate with the largest standalone refinery in the country is already sourcing crude from various South American countries like Venezuela and Brazil.
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