The other companies Oilex has formalised links with are Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and its affiliate Prize Petroleum Company Ltd.

“The alliance agreements provide for Oilex, GSPC, GAIL and Prize Petroleum to participate in oil and gas exploration and production projects in Australia and India and in the broader area of the Indian Ocean rim,” managing director Bruce McCarthy said.

“These companies have strong balance sheets and complementary skills and expertise in the full range of petroleum activities from refining to gas distribution and marketing. In recent years, all three have taken direct equity in exploration permits in India and overseas.”

Oilex said the alliances gave it the chance to acquire projects by: tendering for exploration permits; farming into existing exploration and production permits held by Indian or foreign company joint ventures; purchasing interests in producing assets; and acquiring equity interests in existing production companies.

“Oilex is pleased to be involved with such a strong group of companies from India seeking to develop opportunities in the petroleum sector in our region of interest, and we see these agreements as the ideal way to progress our growth strategy,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy joined Oilex in February. He has a strong background in Indian exploration and production. He is a former Cairn Energy India president and was executive director of Command Petroleum India Ltd based in India when Command merged with Cairn Energy in 1997.

GSPC is owned by the State Government of Gujarat and was formed to participate directly in oil and gas exploration and production activities. GSPC began its involvement in the upstream oil and gas sector in the early 1990’s with the award of small oil and gas fields onshore Gujarat. In one of these fields, Cambay Field, GSPC has farmed out part of its interest to Oilex, which will shortly become operator of that field. GSPC has been active in all of the exploration licensing rounds in India and is the major Joint Venture party in the Hazira Gas Field. GSPC is also heavily involved in the power and pipeline sectors through its subsidiary companies.

GAIL is India’s largest gas distribution and marketing company with about 74% market share and over 5,300 kilometres of pipeline in India. GAIL has developed a strategy to integrate all stages of the gas value chain and has taken up exploration interests in India and overseas. GAIL intends to globalise its exploration and production ventures by participating in opportunities in foreign countries.

HPCL is one of India’s largest refiners of petroleum, operating two refineries with total throughput of approximately 14 million tonnes per annum. The company is a large marketer of petroleum products in India and in 2004-05 achieved its highest ever volume of about 20 million tonnes. As part of its growth strategy, HPCL has sought to diversify its activities and created Prize Petroleum, in which it holds 50% equity, with major Indian financial institutions holding the balance, to pursue oil exploration and production opportunities.