21-10-05 India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said it was keenly looking at acquiring oil and gas assets in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan.
"ONGC is interested in equity oil and gas opportunities globally. We are keenly looking at Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan, for oil and gas assets," ONGC chairman Subir Raha told on the sidelines of an industry conference. "We will be happy to collaborate in the development of a long-term relationship for oil and gas sourcing in Kazakhstan," Raha said.

ONGC recently lost out to China National Petroleum Corporation in its bid to acquire 51 % stake of Canadian oil company PetroKazakhstan, which has sizeable assets in Kazakhstan. While India has decided not to rebid for the stake, there are expectations that at a later date ONGC may be given some minority stake once the Kazakh government uses a new law to acquire part of the equity bought by the Chinese company.
ONGC is also studying two blocks in collaboration with Kazakhstan's national oil company KazMunaiGaz in the Caspian region. The two companies are expected to get 50 % stake each in one of the exploration blocks.

Raha denied reports of ONGC planning a joint venture with Australia's BHP Billiton to explore opportunities in the coal gasification business in Australia.
On possible foreign collaboration in its proposed 15 mm-ton refinery in Mangalore on the lines of BP's participation in Hindustan Petroleum's new refinery in Punjab, Raha said: "As of date we have no plans to have foreign participation in our refinery." He also said negotiations with RasGas of Qatar for picking up 5 % stake in its liquefaction train were not proving very promising.

As part of a 25-year LNG supply contract with Qatar, RasGas was expected to pick up five % stake in Petronet LNG, a joint venture of India's state-owned energy majors. In turn ONGC has been studying the option to pick up stake in the Qatari gas major.
"Currently we are negotiating with them (RasGas) but the deal does not seem to be very attractive," said Raha.