Stocks Advance After ONGC bids for 25% of the shares of Exxon in Angola field

Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India's largest energy explorer, rose in Mumbai trading after the government said the company submitted a binding bid for Exxon Mobil Corp. 's 25 percent stake in the Block 31 in Angola.

The shares rose 0.1 percent to 1,323 rupees at 9:23 am local time, after gaining as much as 0.6 percent, compared with a fall of 0.2 percent in the Reference Sensitivity Index. The stock has risen 12 percent this year.

State-owned ONGC leads India's drive to secure energy supplies abroad with increasing fuel demand in the second fastest growing major economies in Asia. The government has ordered the browser to at least one major acquisition in the year ending March 31 after Indian companies lost to China in the offers at least $ 12.5 billion of assets in the year ended 30 June.

"This property can increase the oil group ONGC and gas production by 3 percent and overseas production by 23 percent" during peak hours, said Nipun Sharma, an analyst at Mirae Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong asset . Acquisitions abroad are essential for ONGC as they have not been able to significantly grow its base of oil and gas reserves significantly over the past 10 years. "

Block 31 offshore production can start in 2012 and production may reach a peak of 150,000 barrels of oil a day, Oil Minister junior Jitin Prasada said in parliament in New Delhi yesterday, without elaborating.

Prasada not mention the value of the offer. ONGC may pay $ 2 billion for Exxon Mobil participation in the block, the Economic Times reported on November 1. ONGC chairman R.S. Santiago would not comment.

Exxon Commitment

Margaret Ross, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, refused to say whether his participation in the block is for sale or comment on the statement of the minister. The Irving, Texas-based company remains "committed to Angola and ongoing operations," he said in an e-mail.

Exxon Mobil, through a subsidiary, operates Block 15, the single largest block of production in Angola, he said. Exxon Mobil has interests in four blocks in the country, according to the website of the company.

ONGC Videsh Ltd., the overseas unit of ONGC, is considering a proposal to the banks providing Exxon Mobil participation in block 31, Managing Director of RS Butola November 1, he said, without identifying the bankers.

India's federal government plans to sell a 5 percent stake in the browser of the state in a secondary public offering in mid-February, President Sharma said Dec. 8. The sale could raise $ 3.1 billion, based on the closing price of the shares yesterday.

Partners Block

BP Plc, which owns 26.7 percent of Block 31 and is the creator, Prasada said. Its partners include Statoil ASA, Total SA, Marathon Oil Corp. and state oil company of Angola, Sonangol SA, said.

Some companies in Block 31 is Sonangol out and is responsible for finding new partners, the Angolan Oil Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, said in New Delhi, November 1.

India is encouraging domestic oil companies to invest in overseas oil and gas, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on November 1. demand for the nation's oil and gas will increase by 40 percent in the next 10 years, he said.

Indian companies are considering the assets in African countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, Ghana, Uganda and Angola, Prasada said in a separate statement in Parliament yesterday.