ONGC buys 15 per cent stake in Russia's Vankor oil field for $1.35 billion

New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has bought a 15 per cent stake in Russia's second-largest oil field from Rosneft for about USD 1.35 billion. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of the state explorer, signed agreements in Moscow to buy 15 per cent stake in the Vankor oil field in East Siberia, sources said.

The 15 per cent stake will give OVL about 3.5 million metric tonnes of oil a year. Under the terms of the agreement, OVL will get two seats on the Board of Directors of Vankorneft - a Rosneft subsidiary that operates the Vankor field. Rosneft will retain full control of infrastructure of the Vankor cluster, they said. Vankor, which started production in 2009, holds recoverable reserves of about 500 million tonnes. OVL already has a 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field off Russia's far eastern coast and owns Imperial Energy, which has fields in Siberia.