(ET)
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), plans to exitKazakhstan’s Satpayev block after it could not find commercially exploitable oil, an official said Tuesday. OVL had in April 2011 bought 25 per cent of Satpayev oil block. It paid $13 million as a signing amount to Kazakhstan and an additional $80 million as a one-time assignment fee to JSC NC KazMunaiGas (KMG), the national oil company of Central Asian nation. Satpayev was OVL’s entry into hydrocarbon-rich Kazakhstan.
But its exploration campaign hasn’t met with much success, the official said. OVL, he said, drilled the committed two exploration wells on the block without any commercial hydrocarbon success. As the prominent prospects in the block have been probed without any commercial hydrocarbon discovery, OVL decided to exit from the Satpayav contract after the expiry of the first extension of exploration phase on June 15 this year, he added.
