Oil India, Indian Oil and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp sign oil exploration agreements with Yemen government
17 Apr 2008
Three Indian companies have signed agreements for five oil and gas exploration blocks in Yemen at Yemen's capital Saana'a during the last one week.
These include agreements for two blocks (Nos 82 and 83) by the Oil India Limited - Indian Oil Corporation consortium with their foreign collaborators, Medco Energy and Kuwait Energy Company.
Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation signed the agreement for for three blocks (Nos 19, 28 and 57) with its foreign collaborators Jubilant Enpro and Alkor Petro.
All the agreements were signed on Sunday, 13 September. Speaking on the occasion, Yemen's oil minister of Yemen expressed the hope that Indian oil companies would start their operations in the near future.
The agreements will be placed for ratification by the Yemeni Parliament and eventually be sent for the signature of the President of Yemen. This process is expected to take around two months before the agreements become operational.
In December 2006, seven oil blocks were allotted to the OIL-IOC combine, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and two block (No 34 and 37) to Reliance India Limited with Hayel Saeed Group of Yemen as the collaborator, which had signed an agreement earlier on 20 November 11 2007 and is now awaiting ratification by Yemen Parliament.
