India’s ONGC plans bond sale to fund acquisition in Azerbaijan
India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) plans to sell dollar bonds to fund the acquisition of shares in projects in Azerbaijan, Bloomberg reported with reference to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
According to the person, the company may raise almost the entire purchase cost selling the notes next quarter through its unit ONGC Videsh Ltd. He also added that the final decision has not been made yet.
In early September, the American Hess company agreed to sell its share in the development project of Azeri Chirag Guneshli oil fields (2.72 per cent), as well as 2.36 per cent stake in Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline to Indian ONGC.
The transaction value is estimated at $1 billion, the report stated. The company expects to complete the transaction in the first quarter of 2013.
According to India's company, the acquisition would bring 9 percent additional proved reserves to ONGC Videsh Limited portfolio.
Production at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field, located about 100 kilometers east of Baku in the Caspian Sea, was launched in 1997.
The shares in the contract, excluding the share of Hess, are distributed as follows: BP (operator of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli) - 35.83 per cent, Chevron - 11,27 per cent, Inpex - 10,96 per cent, AzACG - 11 6 per cent, Statoil - 8,56 per cent, Exxon - 8 per cent, TPAO - 6.75 per cent and Itocu - 4,3 per cent.