Indian oil explorer and producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said on Wednesday it had signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with ExxonMobil Corp for deepwater exploration in the country’s East and West coasts.
A Reuters report said that the company would focus on the Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins in the eastern offshore and the Kutch-Mumbai region in the western offshore.
India, the world’s third biggest oil importer and consumer, ships in over 85% of its oil needs from overseas. The report said that the country wants to quickly monetize its oil and gas resources to reduce its reliance on costly imports.
ONGC’s head of exploration Rajesh Kumar Srivastava said his company is looking for a “long-lasting partnership with Exxon”, Reuters reported.
“Through the discovery route, ONGC hopes to move to development wherein the inherent strength of ExxonMobil would be beneficial for efficient fast-track monetization,” he said.
Exxon has been looking to buy a stake in local deep water fields of ONGC for some time, Reuters said.
India’s crude oil production dropped 1.6% to about 600,000 barrels per
