Vietnam has offered India oil and gas blocks outside the territory claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.
India is considering exploring in 2-3 blocks out of the 5 areas in South China Sea that Vietnam had offered on nomination basis in November last year. The five blocks or areas - 17, 41, 43, 10&11-1 and 102&106/10 lie outside the territory claimed by China in the South China Sea. Pradhan, who accompanied President Pranab Mukherjee on a four-day visit to Vietnam where India's flagship ONGC Videsh signed letter of intent for exploration in two areas, said 3-4 of the blocks offered look viable.
"All the blocks offered to us by Vietnam are within the territorial waters of the country. We are doing a data analysis of these at present. We are working on primary data now.
"Three-four of these are viable and an OVL team is in Vietnam for last ten days to take things forward," he said told reporters on board Mukherjee's special aircraft. ONGC Videsh forayed into Vietnam as early as 1988, when it bagged the exploration license for Block 06.1. The company got two exploration blocks - Block 127 and Block 128, in 2006.
However, OVL relinquished Block 127 in offshore Phu Khanh Basin after it failed to find any oil or gas in the area. Though it had decided to withdraw from adjacent Block 128, it has decided to stay put because of India's strategic interests in the region. The exploration period for the block has been extended until June 15, 2015.
China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea where Block 127 and 128 are located and had warned the Indian arm from drilling in the region. OVL continues to own 45 per cent in Vietnam's offshore block 6.1 and its share of production was 2.023 billion cubic metres of gas and 0.036 million tonnes of condensate.
Pradhan said that Vietnam is a "good place" for acquisition of foreign assets for his ministry and departments under him. Elaborating on the LoI signed, he said Vietnam has offered these blocks to India on a "nomination" basis and his ministry was "enthusiastic" about it. He refused to comment on the recent statements issued by China on this deal.
"I am a commercial entity," he quipped when asked to comment on the Chinese statement. He also said India will invest about $50 million in the textiles and petrochemical sector in Vietnam by the year 2020.
"We have assured market here in terms of textile and petrochemicals business. Vietnam needs a good amount of raw material on textile and we find a good opportunity to do business here," he said. He said that Vietnam had a strong supply chain in this sector with the US and European countries.
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