India’s flagship overseas oil firm ONGC Videsh has got a new partner in Oil India Ltd to replace a reluctant IndianOil (IOC) for the potential acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in Tullow Oil Plc’s USD 3.4 billion oilfield project in Kenya, according to people with knowledge of the matter. But the OVL-OIL duo now faces competition from super-aggressive Chinese energy giant Sinopec which has entered the fray taking advantage of the delay on the Indian part in finalising the deal.
Originally, ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), was interested in buying out half of the stakes that Tullow, Africa Oil Corp and TotalEnergies SE held in the Lokichar oilfield in Kenya. The board of OVL had approved the deal, sources said adding the firm however wanted to bring on board IOC, which too had shown interest in the project.
