Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and bp haveagreed to explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership across theenergy industry in India and internationally, focused on oil and gasexploration and production, as well as trading and extending to other energyvectors. Towards this end, the two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) last month.

Under the terms of the MoU, bp will collaborate with ONGC tojointly explore and evaluate potential business opportunities in oil and gasprojects both, within India and internationally. Specific areas of cooperationwill include:

-         To explore potential collaborationand share best practices for deep-water exploration;

-         To enhance production andoptimize the management of ONGC’s maturing fields; and

-         To jointly bid for mutuallyagreed offshore acreage under India’s Open Acreage Licensing Program (OALP)rounds in partnership with their respective partners.

The MoU further encompasses strategic collaboration tocreate value in trading and in additional energy vectors, such as carbonsequestration. The MoU is valid for three years, during which both parties willwork together in the identified areas of collaboration.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Honourable Ministerof Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri; Secretary, Ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, Shri Pankaj Jain; ONGC’sChairman and CEO, Shri Arun Kumar Singh; and bp’s Executive Vice President,William Lin, along with senior leadership from both organizations.