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Mittal Will Take Part in India Oil Block Auction

Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal plans to bid for oil and gas assets being auctioned by the Indian government as the billionaire tycoon looks to step up his family’s diversification away from the steel sector. 

Mittal, chief executive of the world’s leading global steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, told Reuters on Thursday his group intended “to participate in NELP 7,” an acronym for the seventh round of India’s New Exploration and Licensing Policy.

India is hoping to draw up to $3.5 billion from the auction of 57 oil and gas exploration blocks from domestic private and overseas groups. Overseas roadshows for the auction are scheduled to start on Jan. 25 and bids will close on April 11.

Mittal declined to reveal details of how many blocks his group would bid for, but said the move to participate in the auction was part of his family’s slow diversification away from the steel business.

“We are slowly slowly trying to grow this sector for us as a family. Not as ArcelorMittal,” Mittal, who ranks among the world’s top five billionaires and was estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $51 billion, said in an interview.

read the rest published by CNBC here:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/22251204/site/14081545