New Delhi, Sept. 25: The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has offered British Gas a 40-50 per cent stake in three deep-sea exploration blocks on the eastern offshore for an expected initial investment of $150 million. The state-owned oil firm is also willing to transfer control.

A senior ONGC official told The Telegraph that the talks were at an advanced stage and the nitty gritty of farming out the blocks under existing rules was being worked out.

The norms specify the percentage of cash that has to be paid up-front for these blocks and the work commitment to be made during the various phases of exploration.

The alliance with BG will give ONGC access to cutting-edge technology, which it lacks for deep-sea exploration. It is being increasingly felt that smaller companies such as Cairn Energy and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, which typically outsource operations, are doing better.

Interestingly, of the eight new exploration blocks for which ONGC signed contracts on Friday, it will partner with Cairn Energy in five and ENI of Italy in one. ONGC will be going solo in two blocks only.

A former ONGC official, currently overseeing operations at Cairn Energy, said the state-owned company’s 3D seismic techniques are not state-of-the-art.

This is proving to be a handicap as other companies that outsource seismic research are able to get more accurate information. While these companies are making hefty payments for gathering the seismic data, they are achieving greater success in discovering oil and gas.

The official also said Cairn analyses the data minutely before it starts actual drilling operations to pinpoint oil and gas fields.

However, there is a section of experts that believes ONGC has also been successful in marking out vast hydrocarbon basins in the country.

It is the data prepared by ONGC, which has ultimately led to the discovery of oil and gas fields even by private companies.

The discoveries by Reliance Industries and Niko Resources of Canada in the Krishna-Godavari basin were made in a block that was marked out by ONGC through the extensive gathering of geological data.