Exxon in Talks to Buy Stake in Indian Field: Minister

US major ExxonMobil is in talks to buy a stake in producing oil and gas fields in India, country’s petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on December 2 during a webinar organised by Swaraj Magazine, according to Press Trust of India.

“ExxonMobil is in active discussion with some of our companies to participate in some of our producing fields,” Pradhan said without giving details.

Indian state-run ONGC signed a memorandum of understanding with ExxonMobil in October last year to undertake joint technical studies and to co-operate in frontier areas. This includes working together in deep-water and other petroleum exploration licences that ONGC operates offshore as well as in acreage open for joint bidding.

ExxonMobil also signed a non-binding MoU with another Indian state-run firm, Indian Oil Corporation, for the introduction of ISO containers for the Indian gas market. 

The move to acquire interests in fields would mark ExxonMobil's entry into India's upstream sector, at a time when the US major is scaling back its exploration and production operations in other regions such as Europe, to boost its cash reserves and channel more investment into core projects. The company's current activities in India are mostly downstream-focused.