India's ONGC Videsh, SOCAR Trading Sign MoU

ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of India’s largest state owned energy firm ONGC, on May 27 signed a MoU with SOCAR Trading SA.

The two parties agreed to collaborate in the oil and gas sector by mutually sharing their experience in optimizing sales revenues and their portfolios, SOCAR Trading said in a statement Monday.

Headquartered in Geneva, SOCAR Trading was incorporated in December 2007 as the marketing arm of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) with a mandate to market Azeri barrels produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field and other surrounding fields in Azerbaijan.

OVL owns participating interests in 36 oil and gas assets in 17 countries and contributes to 14.8 percent of oil and 12.5 percent of oil and natural gas production of India, respectively. In terms of reserves and production, the company is the second largest petroleum company of India, next only to its parent ONGC.

Earlier this month, OVL announced its plan to set up a crude oil trading vertical soon. The company, which is traditionally into the business of exploration and production, proposes to set up this vertical once it has sizeable hydrocarbon volumes to sell.