ONGC and Sinopec acquires Colombian Oil Assets

New Delhi, Sept 21: The country's upstream oil major, ONGC and China's SIPC have jointly acquired Omimex de Columbia for an undisclosed price from a Texas based company.

The acquisition was executed by the 50:50 joint venture company -- comprising a subsidiary of ONGC Videsh Ltd (ONGC-VL) and a subsidiary of Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (SIPC) -- which has acquired Omimex de Colombia Ltd (Omimex), from Texas-based Omimex Resources, Inc.

Omimex has oil and gas operations exclusively in Colombia, which include onshore production and exploration areas with gross proved reserves of more than 300 million barrels of oil and current production at approximately 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

ONGC-VL is advised by UBS Investment Bank, SIPC by Citigroup Global Markets Ltd and Omimex Resources, Inc by Scotia Waterous.

Omimex's assets constitute a 100 per cent interest in the light oil Velasquez fee mineral property and a 50 per cent interest in the Nare and Cocorna association contracts where the Colombian national oil company Ecopetrol SA (Ecopetrol) holds the remaining 50 per cent.

Omimex also owns 100 per cent of the Velasquez-Galan pipeline, which runs 189 km from the Velasquez property to Ecopetrol's Barrancabermeja refinery.

ONGC-Videsh Ltd (ONGC-VL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), India's largest corporation by market capitalisation (approximately 36 billion dollars) as well as India's first integrated oil and gas major.

ONGC-VL is engaged in the exploration and production of oil and gas in territories outside India.

Founded in January 2001, SIPC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group). Sinopec Group is a major petroleum and petrochemical entity incorporated in July 1998 on the basis of the former China Petrochemical Corporation.

Sinopec Group is China's largest producer and supplier of oil products (including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel) and major petrochemical products (including petrochemical intermediates, synthetic resin, synthetic fiber monomers and polymers, synthetic fiber and chemical fertiliser). It is also the second largest crude oil producer in China.

Omimex Resources, Inc, which owns 100 per cent of the stock of Omimex de Colombia, Ltd, is a privately held oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Canada and Colombia.

UNI