ONGC Videsh (OVL) has been offered a stake in nine offshore oil and gas blocks in Barents Sea and one in Black Sea by Russian state owned oil company Rosneft. OVL is currently studying the data provided by Rosneft for identifying the preferred blocks for participation with Rosneft, MoS for petroleum and natural gas Panabaaka Lakshmi told the Lok Sabha.
Earlier in December, oil minister Veerappa Moily had mentioned Rosneft offered OVL a stake in the Magadan 2 and Magadan 3 exploration blocks in the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Russia.
OVL is keen to get a foothold in the Arctic projects and expand in Siberia and Far East Russia. Currently, OVL holds 20% stake in the Sakhalin 1 oil and gas field in the Russian Pacific ocean. OVL also acquired Imperial Energy, which has fields in Siberia, in January 2009 for a consideration of $ 2.1 billion.
