The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the proposal of Oil and Corporation Videsh Natural Gas Limited (OVL) to invest an additional $70 million in an oilfield in Brazil, taking the total investment in the project to $748 million.
The CCEA, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, authorised OVL to make an additional investment of $70 million, taking the total cash put in the BC-10 project in Brazil to $383 million, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists during the briefing on the Cabinet decisions here.
The $383-million investment was towards developing oil reserves in the BC-10 block off Brazil and did not include $165 million OVL had paid earlier to acquire 15 per cent stake. Oil fields in BC-10 are being developed in two phases.
Mr. Chidambaram said OVL’s share at 15 per cent in the total cost would be $748.05 million.
The CCEA also authorised the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for OVL’s projects to approve an additional cash sink of $17.5 million (25 per cent of $70 million) for future use in case there were shortfalls.
