OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2012. ONGC Videsh Limited (“ONGC Videsh”)has finalized definitive agreements for the acquisition of the 8.40% Participating Interest (PI) of ConocoPhillips in the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement (NCS PSA) that includes the Kashagan Field, in Kazakhstan. The acquisition, subject to relevant government, regulatory approvals, priority rights and consortium pre-emption rights, is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

The Kashagan Field, located in the shallow waters (~5m to 8m) of the Kazakh North Caspian Sea, is the world's largest current development project. Kashagan’s consortium partners are Eni, Total, Shell, ExxonMobil and KazMunaiGaz each with 16.81% PI, while ConocoPhillips has 8.40% PI and Inpex has 7.56%.

The acquisition would mark ONGC Videsh’s entry into the largest oil proven North Caspian Sea of Kazakhstan. From Phase 1, the acquisition is likely to add an average annual production of about 1.0MMT for a period of over 25 years with a peak of about 1.6 MMT. When Phase 2 and 3 are implemented, the OVL’s share will be significantly higher. The acquisition also bears a significant strategic importance to India in terms of contributing towards India’s energy security. ONGC has recently formulated its Perspective Plan – 2030 envisaging that the oil and gas production of ONGC Videsh would increase from the current level of 8.75 MMTOE in FY’12 to 20 MMTOE by FY’18 and 60 MMTOE by FY’30. Mr. Sudhir Vasudeva, CMD, ONGC said on this occasion that the current transaction is a major step towards achieving this goal.

Goldman Sachs is acting as exclusive financial advisor, Allen & Overy as legal advisor, E&Y as tax and accounting advisor and bayphase as technical advisor to ONGC Videsh.

ONGC Videsh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, the national oil company of India. It is the largest Indian international oil and gas Exploration and Production (E&P) company. At present, ONGC Videsh has E&P activities in 15 countries.