Shirish Nadkarni
OGJ Correspondent
MUMBAI, June 21 -- ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) and GAIL (India) Ltd. plan to enter separate memorandums of understanding with the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) for joint oil and gas exploration in the Caspian Sea.
GAIL also hopes to acquire a stake in the Shah Deniz gas-condensate development project off Azerbaijan.
And OVL is interested in a 5% equity stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli complex of offshore oil fields.
Azerbaijani officials said it would be difficult to accommodate a new company in either of the two producing projects but cited possibilities for cooperation in other projects.
"We have discussed cooperation with Socar in as many as eight areas, including the gas monetization project for the Shah Deniz gas project," GAIL said.
