Indian government approves ONCG participation in Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli

The decision of ONGC Videsh Ltd to buy a stake in the development of

"Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" (ACG) and the BTC pipeline has been approved

by the Federal Cabinet in India. The transaction is valued at $1

billion

"The Cabinet approved the deal," the Minister of Information and

Broadcasting of India Manish Tewari said.

U.S. company Hess has agreed to sell its share of India's ONGC (2.72%)

in the project development unit of the ACG fields in the Azerbaijan sector of

the Caspian Sea, as well as a 2.36% stake in the BTC pipeline, in early

September.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013.

Equity participation in the contract, excluding the share of Hess,

is distributed as follows: BP (operator in ACG) - 35.83%, Chevron -

11.27%, Inpex - 10.96%, AzACG - 11.6%, Statoil - 8.56%, Exxon - 8%,

TPAO - 6.75% and Itocu - 4.3%.