Related - Indian firms eye Devon's W. Africa assets -
Mon Jul 9, 2007 6:48AM EDT
NEW DELHI, July 9 (Reuters) - Four state-run Indian oil firms are weighing up whether to enter the race for some of the West African oil and gas assets held by U.S.-based Devon Energy (DVN.N: Quote, Profile, Research), sources close to the potential bids said on Monday.
A source said exploration firm Oil India Ltd. and refiner Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) (IOC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) were jointly evaluating data for a possible non-binding bid for Devon's Angolan assets and "would submit a bid if the data meets expectations".
Meanwhile, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) is planning to bid for the U.S. firm's Gabon assets, while Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) (ONGC) is exploring bids for those in Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, separate sources said.
The last date for the submission of bids is July 18.
Spokespeople at all four Indian firms declined to comment.
In April, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper reported that Chinese offshore oil firm CNOOC (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) and chemical trader Sinochem Corp. were preparing to bid separately for the assets.
In January, Devon announced plans to sell all of its assets in West Africa to focus on operations in North America.
Devon said the properties had proved reserves of about 90 million barrels of oil equivalent at year-end -- about 4 percent of the company's proved reserves -- and were expected to produce about 11 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2007.
The assets put for sale are in six countries -- Angola, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana and Nigeria.
The company said it owns interests in 16 blocks in various stages of production, exploration and appraisal in West Africa, most significantly an interest in the Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) operated Zafiro field in Equatorial Guinea
The Indian government in December 2005 allowed IOC and OIL to look at jointly acquiring overseas oil and gas assets, and since then the two firms have bought stakes in overseas six blocks.
ONGC's overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh has an interest in 26 projects spread over 15 countries, while HPCL's exploration arm Prize Petroleum has a block each in Oman and Australia.
