Shares of state-owned Oil India were up on Monday as the company was reported to be in talks for a deal with an international energy firm and said its operations had not been affected by political turmoil in Bangladesh.

What Happened: The oil explorer is in advanced discussions with French energy giant TotalEnergies to explore hydrocarbon blocks off India’s coast, the Financial Express reported, citing a senior company executive.

The collaboration could see TotalEnergies joining either as a technical partner or an equity partner under the next round of the open acreage licensing policy (OALP) bidding, which allows investors to carve out blocks of their choice by assessing available data.

“We’ve had talks with TotalEnergies and are now working on a memorandum of understanding to determine if they’ll come on board as a technical partner or a participating interest partner,” the executive told the business publication.

OIL is also reportedly gearing up to bid aggressively for offshore blocks in the upcoming OALP bidding rounds, as part of its strategy to boost domestic energy production.

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More Partners In The Fray: In addition to TotalEnergies, Oil India is also in talks with other international oil companies such as Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production, Malaysia's state-owned Petronas and Vietnam's Petrovietnam, the publication reported.

The company has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PTTEP and a non-disclosure agreement with Petronas, with both firms showing interest in OIL’s data and exploration prospects, the publication added.

Lofty Targets: Meanwhile, the company also said it plans to expand capacity at its Numaligarh facility in Assam to 1.8 lakh barrels per day from the current 60,000 barrels per day by 2027. It also aims to lay a crude oil pipeline connecting the refinery to Paradip Port in Odisha.

The “Maharatna” company aims to drill over 75 wells this financial year as part of its new drilling programme. The company drilled 38 wells in FY22, 45 in FY23 year and 61 in FY24.

The company also clarified that there were no disruptions or payment issues so far due to the political crisis in Bangladesh, which it caters to from the Numaligarh plant.

Price Action: Oil India’s share price was up 0.75% at ₹590 in morning trade on Monday.

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