Govt considers selling $3 b stake in ONGC

Narendra Modi's government will decide next month on the sale of a $3 billion stake in state oil firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp, in a major test of whether he can follow through on reforms outlined in his first budget.

Government will decide in August whether to sell a 5 per cent stake in ONGC, a top oil ministry official said, in a deal that would be worth $2.9 billion at current market prices.

"The department of divestment has floated a note seeking our comments for a 5 per cent stake sale in ONGC," the official, who has direct knowledge of the matter, said on Tuesday.

If completed, the sale would raise more than a quarter of the $10.5 billion target for asset sales announced by Jaitley for the fiscal year to March 2015. 

46% stake sale in MRPL 

ONGC will sell its 46 per cent stake in, OMPL, a $1-billion petrochem project in Karnataka to its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). “ONGC-Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd (OMPL) has synergies with MRPL and it makes economic and business sense that this project be merged with MRPL,” a source said.