--ONGC, Indian Oil, Petronet LNG may acquire about 15% stake in
Yamal LNG
--Decision likely to be taken in next two months
--Petronet 1Q net profit up 5%, sales jump 53%
(Adds details throughout)
By Rakesh Sharma
NEW DELHI--A consortium of Indian companies comprising Oil &
Natural Gas Corp. (500312.BY), Indian Oil Corp. (530965.BY) and
Petronet LNG Ltd. (532522.BY) is looking at buying about a 15%
stake in Russian natural-gas producer OAO Novatek's (NVTK.RS) Yamal
LNG Project, Petronet's managing director said Tuesday.
While offloading a stake in Yamal to India may help Novatek seal
a deal for supply of liquefied natural gas, it will help the energy
hungry South Asian nation secure its fuel sources.
Fuel shortages, aggravated by a decline in local gas output and
less-than-estimated coal production, have crippled India's power
stations. On Tuesday, the grid collapsed in India for a second time
in last two days, which left hundreds of millions of people without
power for several hours, disrupting transport and businesses.
"The talks are on," Petronet's Ashok Kumar Balyan told
reporters. "Maybe in the next two months we'll be able to
decide."
Novatek didn't immediately comment.
Yamal LNG holds a license to develop the South-Tambeyskoye
field, located at the northeastern portion of the Yamal peninsula
in Russia's western Arctic region. It is also building an onshore
LNG facility near Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula. While Novatek
holds 80%, French oil and gas major Total SA (TOT) has the
remaining 20% in the project.
The Yamal LNG project could see an investment of $23 billion to
$24 billion, Mr. Balyan said.
India's LNG capacity is expected to reach 50 million metric tons
by 2017 from about 13.5 million tons per annum now, as the local
gas shortages are leading to higher demand for imported gas.
Petronet, India's largest LNG importer by volume, is in talks to
secure long-term LNG supplies as it seeks to expand its capacity to
25 million tons in the next three years from 10 million tons now,
Finance Director R.K. Garg said at a news conference Tuesday. The
conference was held to declare the company's quarterly
earnings.
ONGC's subsidiary Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.
(500109.BY) has been looking to set up an LNG terminal. Indian Oil
is building a 5-million-ton capacity LNG terminal at Ennore in the
southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Separately, Mr. Garg said Petronet's fiscal-first-quarter net
profit rose 5% to 2.71 billion rupees, helped by higher margins on
gas sales, while sales jumped 53% to INR69.93 billion due to higher
gas rates and as the rupee declined against the dollar.
Mr. Garg said Petronet's billing is in dollars, which boosted
sales for the April-June quarter.
Write to Rakesh Sharma at rakesh.sharma@dowjones.com
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