For Mittal, the private sector’s networking abilities and the public sector’s domain knowledge sure make for a heady combination.
Success of joint venture with ONGC seems to have made him bullish.
NEW DELHI: For L N Mittal, the private sector’s networking abilities and the public sector’s domain knowledge sure make for a heady combination in areas well beyond steel. The success of his group’s joint venture with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Syria and Nigeria seems to have whetted his appetite for more such tie-ups with public sector companies.
“We have received excellent cooperation from ONGC. It is a good example for PSUs to have a joint venture as part of expanding their reach in global arena,” Mittal told reporters here on Thursday.
Asked if he would like to join hands with the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), he said, “If there is an opportunity for SAIL, we will like to look at it.”
Mittal’s Mittal Investment Sarl and ONGC’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) had last year formed a company in Cyprus, ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL). In a year’s time, the joint venture has had two successes. First, it got a producing field in Syria in consortium with a Chinese company, and second, a development package of $6 billion helped get it two oil and gas blocks - OPL 212 and OPL 209 - in Nigeria with a signature bonus of $115 million.
“Nigeria is the first major step,” said Mittal.
ONGC chairman R S Sharma said the two partners would be meeting on July 19 to finalise a strategy for Nigeria. The investment in infrastructure would depend on the joint venture’s returns from the two blocks. OMEL had offered the Nigerian government a package that included an export-oriented refinery, a 2,000 mw power plant and railway lines.
The company was awarded rights of first refusal on three blocks — OPL 212, OPL 209 and OPL 216 — by the Nigerian government. The recoverable reserves potential estimated from a few clearly delineated prospects in the blocks are expected to be over one billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas.
The joint venture’s first attempt at getting a foothold overseas failed last year when it lost Petrokazakh to a Chinese company. “That is not the end of the world for us in Kazaksthan,” said Mittal.
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