IVRCL acquires Alkor Petroo

IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Ltd has entered into a share purchase agreement on November 11, 2007 to acquire 100 per cent shares of Alkor Petroo Ltd, an unlisted oil and gas E&P company.

Alkor has five exploration blocks in the Republic of Yemen and Arab Republic of Egypt along with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPCL) and others. The three exploration blocks in Yemen are block No. 19, 57 and 28 in Marib Shabwah Basin, Rub Al Khali Basin and Balhaf Basin respectively.

Block 19 has an estimated resource potential (best gross case) of about 143 MMBBLLS of oil and 17 BCF gas, as evaluated by an international agency. Seismic data will be acquired in all the blocks early next year.

Alkor has 25 per cent participating interest in each of the three blocks.

The two blocks in Egypt are block 6 in the prolific Nile Basin, offshore Mediterranean, and block 8 in the Western Desert block 6 has a best estimate resource potential of 143 MMBBLLS oil and 6.494 TCF gas identified from direct hydrocarbon indicators from seismic sections. Alkor''s participating interest is 20 per cent each in both the blocks.

Based on the best estimates of the resources from an internationally reputed agency block 19 (Yemen) and block 6 (Egypt) have a potential to earn revenues of over $1 billion for the company during the life of the respective blocks. The revenues for the other blocks are under evaluation.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd is the operator for all the five blocks.

IVRCL says it will be investing about $50 million during the exploration phase.