India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. is looking to buy a significant minority stake in the over $4 billion Sangomar oil project from Woodside Petroleum Ltd off the coast of Senegal, according to people familiar with the matter.
State-owned ONGC is discussing acquiring 20% to 40% interest in the sector, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Australia-based Woodside is working with Jefferies Financial Group Inc on the sale, which could also attract other suitors, the people said.
According to people discussions are going on and there is no certainty that they will result in a deal. Representatives for Jefferies and Woodside declined to comment, while a spokesperson for ONGC Videsh Limited, ONGC’s foreign investment arm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Woodside has built its position in the Sangomar region through a series of stake purchases. Earlier this year, it bought out a participating interest of FAR Ltd. after exercising its right to match an offer made by ONGC. It took its stake in the project to 82%, with the rest with the Senegalese government. Woodside bought Cairn Energy Plc’s stake in Sangomar last year.
Senegal has been attracting oil and gas companies in search of new resources. Cairn excavated the first deepwater wells at Sangomar in 2014, making it the largest oil discovery globally that year. Dallas-based Cosmos Energy Limited made a series of major offshore gas discoveries beginning in 2016.
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