Apollo Hospitals forms JV for hospital in Mauritius

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise is forming a JV with British American Investment Co., Mauritius (BAI), to set up a multi-specialty hospital in Mauritius on stateowned land provided by the Mauritius government. Apollo and BAI Medical Centres (BMCL), a subsidiary of BAI are the partners in the JV named as 'British American Hospitals Enterprise' (BAHEL).

Essar bids for three oil & gas blocks in Iran

Essar Infrastructure Holding - the Mauritius-based investment arm of Essar, has bid for three oil and gas blocks in Iran, which include two onshore blocks - Naft Shahr and Bandar Abbas - and a Laleh an offshore block.

National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) had put 17 offshore and onshore oil & gas blocks on offer, for exploration and development. Out of the 17, five are offshore and 12 onshore, covering a total of 1,29,000 km area.

IOC to tie-up with KMG, ENI, for Turkish refinery

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is likely to rope in KazMunayGas (KMG) of Kazakhstan and ENI of Italy, as equity partners in the proposed 20,000 crore ($4.9 billion), 15 mln tpa export oriented refinery. IOC in a 51:49 JV with Calik Holding of Turkey will set up the refinery at the port city of Ceyhan in Turkey. The Energy Market Regulatory Authority of Turkey had accorded provisional approvals in May 2007. Thereafter, the JV invited request for proposal (RfP) to commission the refinery's feasibility report. Five international consultants including UOP, Shell Global Solutions and Lurgi have joined the race. Bids are expected to be finalised by November 2007, and the feasibility report within six months from awarding the contract.

OMEL wins gas block in Trinidad & Tobago

The JV between Lakshmi N Mittal and ONGC Videsh, titled ONGC-Mittal Energy (OMEL) has won an offshore gas block having reserves of 2 trillion cubic feet, in Trinidad & Tobago.

In January 2006, Trinidad & Tobago had offered eight onshore and three shallow marine blocks for bidding. OMEL and Britain's Centrica Plc were tied for the offshore block NCMA-2, when bids were finalised in April 2007. Trinidad & Tobago's Ministry of Energy & Energy Industries invited the two to submit new proposals, in which OMEL outbid Centrica.

OVL seeks 20 per cent stake in Yadavaran oil field

ONGC Videsh (OVL) has sought 20 per cent stake in Iran's Yadavaran field, which has an estimated yield capacity of 60,000 bpd of crude.

In 2005, as part of an MoU signed with India, Iran had agreed to give OVL a 100 per cent participating interest in the Jufeyr project, along with 10 per cent in the Yadavaran project.

EIL gets LoI for petrochemicals complex in Abu Dhabi

On 13 August 2007, Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. issued a letter of intent (LoI) to Engineers India (EIL), to supervise the construction of a petrochemical complex in Abu Dhabi.

As per the terms of the contract, EIL will manage the expansion of the petrochemical complex owned by Abu Dhabi Polymers Co. - a JV between Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and Vienna-based Borealis.

Videocon Industries forms SPV for East Timor Block

Videocon Industries has set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) - Global Energy Inc., as a wholly owned subsidiary, to explore, develop and exploit the JPDA 06- 103 petroleum block in Timor Sea that lies between Australia and East Timor.

The JPDA 06-103 production sharing contract was awarded to Global Energy by the Timor Sea Designated Authority. JPDA is within the Bonaparte Basin with estimated 23 tcf of undiscovered EUR Gas Reserves. A gas field in the JPDA, namely Bayu-Undan contains 3.4 tcf of gas reserves and 400 million barrels of condensate and LPG reserves. It exports dry gas via a 26" pipeline to Darwin in North Western Australia.

In the block 06-103, leads 103-A and 103-C have been identified with recoverable un-risked potential of 260 million barrels of oil.

Tata, Essar shortlisted for steel plant in Egypt

The Egyptian government has shortlisted Tata Steel and Ruias' Essar Steel Holdings (ESHL), to build a $3 billion steel and billet plant in the country. The project includes two steel plants each of 2 mln tpa, two billet plants and intermediate steel products. The contract is likely to be awarded by October 2007.