By Shirish Nadkarni
OGJ Correspondent
MUMBAI, July 28 -- Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) and ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), the overseas subsidiary of the Indian government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp., are in talks with oil majors ChevronTexaco Corp., BP Group PLC, and ExxonMobil Corp. to forge a consortium to bid for an oil-producing block in Kuwait.
IOC and OVL would assume the role of nonoperating partners, pumping in investment as financial partners by taking a 10% equity stake in the $7 billion North Kuwait project. If the consortium secures the bid, the Indian companies' participation would ensure Indian oil equity from Kuwait as well.
The project involves a block that currently has four producing fields having an aggregate oil production of 450,000 b/d. The Kuwaiti authorities want to expand facilities to double that production.
Kuwait Petroleum Corp., operator of the fields, has called for expressions of interest for the facilities expansion. A final decision on the consortium is expected by this week.