Oil India to start drilling in Libya from October

KOLKATA - State-run energy explorer Oil India Ltd (OIL) will start drilling oil blocks in Libya from October for exploring an estimated two trillion cubic metres of reserves, a top company official said Wednesday.

“We will drill four wells in Libya by 2010-11. We are hoping to begin onshore drilling in Libya by October by digging the first of the four wells,” OIL Executive Director for Corporate Affairs Narendra Bhalla told reporters here.

In its bid to secure oil and gas assets abroad, OIL and its partners - Algeria’s Sonatrach and the Indian Oil Corporation - entered into a Rs.5,500-crore accord with the National Oil Corporation of Libya for four exploration blocks.

On the $7.4-billion Iran-Pakistan-India piped gas project, Bhalla said it was likely to be operational by 2012-13, following the green signal from Iran.

The company, which is scheduled to come out with an IPO Sep 7 to raise Rs.2,800 crore from the market, is partnering with Iran to jointly develop the world’s largest gas field.

OIL plans to pump in Rs.4,500 crore over the next two years.

“There will be an investment of Rs.2,800 crore in exploration, Rs.1,000 crore in development and Rs.700 crore for procurement of capital equipment,” the official said.