MUMBAI (AFP) ? India's largest state-run oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp plans to invest $7.7 billion in developing one of India's biggest gas fields off the eastern coast, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
ONGC is aiming to drill eight additional wells in a block in the KG basin and has sought approval from the regulator and the petroleum ministry, he said.
The oil giant will also explore tie-ups with foreign partners, who have expertise to develop hard-to-exploit reserves in the basin, he added.
"We will look for partners who have expertise in ultra deepwater drilling," the spokesman said, asking not to be named.
ONGC, which produces about 30 percent of India's crude requirement, is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India.
The KG basin is India's most prolific gas basin, where some of the country's largest natural gas discoveries have taken place in recent years.
Oil and natural gas companies are raising spending on exploration and production, as demand and prices remain high.
Earlier this year, British giant BP agreed to pay $7.2 billion for a 30-percent stake in 23 oil and gas blocks owned by private energy giant Reliance Industries.
India imports about 70 percent of its total fuel needs.
He declined to say who ONGC was talking to but media reports last week said was holding discussions with the BG Group and Italian oil giant ENI with a plan to sell up to a 30-percent stake in two other gas blocks, off eastern India.
"ENI and BG have evinced interest," the Economic Times financial daily on Tuesday quoted an unnamed ONGC official, who added it was too early to say if deals would be signed with either firm.
ONGC has bagged more than 50 percent of the 238 blocks awarded in bidding under India's exploration licensing policy.
ONGC produced 27.27 million tonnes of crude oil and 25.32 billion cubic metres of gas in the year to March 2011.
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