Consortium of Indian companies set to buy 49 per cent in Russian oilfield by February 2018

A consortium of Indian companies led by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) is likely to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Russia’s Vankor cluster oilfields owned by Rosneft by February 2018. OVL is expected to hold a 26 per cent stake in the cluster, and the other players – IOCL, Oil India Limited (OIL), HPCL and Bharat Petro Resources Limited – will be partners in the acquisition. The size of the deal is likely to be close to $1 billion. The deal is in the technical due diligence stage, while financial due diligence is yet to take place. Hence, the value of the Vankor cluster deal cannot be specified.