ONGC tying up with Mittal for oil fields

ONGC tying up with Mittal for oil fields

Agence France-Presse, New Delhi

Leading Indian oil producer ONGC is planning to team up with LN
Mittal group, the world's biggest steel producer, to acquire
oilfields, build refineries and lay pipelines abroad, officials
said on Saturday.

The move comes as energy-hungry India, Asia's fourth-largest
economy, aggressively seeks stakes in foreign oil and gas
projects and is moving to strengthen ties with large energy
producers.

ONGC, or Oil and Natural Gas Corp., was due to sign two
agreements with Indian-born tycoon L.N. Mittal's group later on
Saturday, officials said.

One venture with the parent ONGC company will invest in
projects for refining, trading and transporting oil and gas,
officials said.

The other venture with ONGC's foreign arm, ONGC Videsh, will
invest in acquisition of oil and gas companies and energy fields
abroad.

"We need their strength of global business, resources,
expertise and knowledge for doing business globally," ONGC
chairman Subir Raha told reporters.

"Combined with our strengths of expertise in oil and gas, we
see a lot of synergy," he said.

India imports 70 percent of its crude oil needs and produces
scarcely half the gas it requires. The country's fuel import
requirements are seen growing rapidly as its economy surges.

ONGC will hold 51 percent stakes in both joint ventures while
the Mittal group will hold the remaining 49 percent.

No other financial details were available.

ONGC wants to capitalise on the Mittal group's presence in oil
and gas-rich countries in Central Asia and Africa where India is
pursuing exploration and other activities, officials said.

"We have businesses in different countries where oil is
important," Mittal told India's Aaj Tak television network.

"We're doing business with oil exporting countries and the
governments there have been saying, 'Please invest in oil when
you do so much in steel'," he said.