India's ONGC may buy Enron's share of fields

Enron International Corp. will open talks with Indian government-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) for the sale of the former's 30% share in Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields. ONGC will get data on the fields from Enron and will make a final bid.

Feb. 6, 2001

2 min read

By an OGJ Online Correspondent

MUMBAI, Feb. 6�Enron International Corp. will open talks with Indian government-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) for the sale of the former's 30% share in Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields.

The prospects of bidder Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) were unknown.

ONGC chairman and managing director Bikash Chandra Bora said, �Our bid for Enron Oil and Gas India�s stake has been accepted and acknowledged by the company and we have been asked to submit a detailed financial bid.�

M.A. Pathan, IOC chairman, said his firm had not received word from Enron. �We submitted a non-binding bid, in the form of an expression of interest, to global consultants Credit Suisse First Boston, but there has been nothing from them, either,� he said.

Reliance Industries Corp. and Royal Dutch/Shell also were in contention for Enron�s stake in the fields, which produce 300 million cu m of gas and 29,000 b/d of oil.

ONGC has hired merchant banker N.M. Rothschild India as its consultant for the two-stage bidding process, which consisted of an expression of interest and a detailed financial bid.

Bora said, �Acceptance of the non-binding bid will provide us with access to Enron�s data on the oil and gas field, based on which we will make our final bid."