NEW DELHI: IndianOil (IOC) and partner ONGC Videsh have called off talks for buying a stake in Tullow Oil’s Lokichar oil field in Kenya, a deal that was estimated last year to be worth about $2 billion.
People in the know said the decision to end discussions lasting several months was taken after senior executives from the two Indian suitors visited Kenya in July last year. They, however, did not disclose the reason for pulling out.
Tullow has an Indian connection in company chief executive Rahul Dhir, who headed Cairn India at the time the Indian arm of the then independent Scottish explorer made one of India’s largest on-land oil and gas discoveries in Rajasthan’s Barmer district.
