TEHRAN - India will
seriously look at investing in more oilfields abroad,
including Iran, as its maiden bid in acquiring a stake
in a Sudanese oil field has already started giving rich
dividends, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said while in
Iran.
"Our first consignment of 80,000 crude
from Sudan will arrive at Mangalore port next week
aboard a chartered tanker Sea Falcon," Naik said ahead
of ministerial talks with Iran on cooperation in the
energy sector.
"We had picked up a 25 percent
stake for Rs 36 billion [US$764 million] from the
Canadian company Talisman in the Nile Oil Company in
Sudan which produces 12 million tonnes of crude
annually. With the investment, India will get a quarter
of production or three million tonnes of crude a year,"
he said, adding that the results have proved prophets of
doom wrong.
Naik will be attending a public
reception for the consignment at a function to be held
in Mangalore on May 15 when Deputy Prime Minister L K
Advani will be the chief guest underscoring the
repositioning of India's strategy in sourcing vital
energy resources.
The minister said the
production from the Sudan field has shown potential for
growth. ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) had recently won a
tender for oil exploration at the Farsi 2 block in Iran.
India was keen to build on this small beginning, Naik
added.
India currently imports over nine million
tonnes of crude worth $1.8 billion a year from Iran.
