Shirish Nadkarni
OGJ Correspondent
MUMBAI, July 17 -- A joint venture of India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and steel baron Laksmi N. Mittal is considering exploration and production investments in 21 countries.
Mittal, now president of Mittal Arcelor, disclosed the figure while discussing plans for ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd. (OMEL) during a joint press conference in New Delhi with R.S. Sharma, ONGC chairman and managing director.
Mittal and ONGC Videsh Ltd. formed OMEL last year (OGJ, Jan. 23, 2006, p. 23).
At present, Cypress-based OMEL seeks investments mainly in Kazakhstan, Sudan, and Nigeria.
In Nigeria, OMEL plans to invest $6 billion on infrastructure projects, which reportedly will include a refinery. It won two deepwater licenses, OPL-209 and OPL-212, in a recent Nigerian bid round.
Sharma said ONGC is willing to invest as much as $25 billion in acquisitions outside India in the next 5-10 years.
