GAIL India loses Tanzania gas block to Singapore firm

Gas transmission and marketing company GAIL India has lost out on a bid to acquire Ophir Energy’s stake in gas blocks in Tanzania to Singapore’s Pavilion Energy.

GAIL was keen to buy part of Ophir Energy plc’s 40 per cent stake in Blocks 1, 3 and 4, which are estimated to hold an estimated 15 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.

It was, however, outbid by Pavilion which offered to pay $1.3 billion for a 20 per cent stake in three gas blocks offshore Tanzania in East Africa.

GAIL had put a price of about $600 million for a 10 per cent interest.

Pavilion Energy, established by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek earlier this year, in a statement last month announced the acquisition saying the transaction is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.

The firm said it has “entered into an agreement to purchase 20 per cent interest in Tanzania blocks 1, 3 and 4 from Ophir Energy plc for a consideration of $1.28 billion.”

The acquisition will help the company diversify its supply of LNG to meet growing Asian demand. The first deliveries from Tanzania blocks are scheduled to start in 2020.