ONGC Videsh ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is among 11 companies in race to acquire Brazil’s libra pre-salt block, one of the world’s largest offshore oil discoveries.
OVl is among the companies that paid a 2 million Brazilian reals (USD 886,014) fee and submitted documents to participate in Brazil’s bid round for the massive libra pre-salt block.
leading the list are Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell, France’s Total, and Repsol-Sinopec, the joint venture between the Spanish and Chinese players, according to Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP).
The other contenders are Chinese state-run players China National Offshore Oil Corp and China National Petroleum Corp, Ecopetrol of Colombia, Mitsui of Japan, Galp of Portugal and Malaysia’s Petronas.
The sale of the offshore field, called libra, is scheduled for October 21. libra, the Santos basin block is estimated to hold between 8 billion and 12 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves and covers an area of 1,500 square kilometres.