A high-level empowered committee of secretaries met today to approve the proposal for the Indian duo to go ahead with the acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in the European company, which has interests in various oil and gas assets in different countries. The name of the exploration and production (E&P) company is being kept under wraps because of the confidentiality clause covering the negotiations. OIL and Indian Oil will form a project-specific special purpose vehicle for the proposed acquisition. Indian Oil had earlier carried out a due diligence exercise of French company Maurel and Prom, but ran into problems over the confidentiality clause. It is, therefore, playing its cards very close to the chest this time around. The OIL-IOC combine has also been eyeing Niko Resources of Canada, which has a stake in oil and gas assets spread across various countries. The government will clear the projects of the OIL-IOC combine in the same way as it does those of ONGC-Videsh. This is considered important as quick decisions are required for clinching international deals. OVL had lost out in the past due to bureaucratic red tape. It was then that this fast-track clearance mechanism through the empowered committee of secretaries was devised as a way out of the predicament. The IOC-OIL consortium achieved a breakthrough overseas by bagging two onshore blocks in the highly prospective Sirte basin in Libya last year. IOC has also jointly opened a branch office in Libya along with OIL. It was earlier thought that IOC would move into the upstream oil exploration and production business on its own by acquiring in toto a mid-sized foreign company. The move to acquire Indonesian firm Medco was part of this gameplan. However, IOC has lost the race for Medco to the Singapore-based Tamasec, which has strong Indonesian connections. The Chinese National Petroleum Company was also in the race for the Indonesian company. The petroleum ministry has decided to allow IOC to go ahead with its plans to acquire a foreign company but since it does not have the core competence in the upstream business it will have to go along with OIL as a partner. As part of its foray into upstream activities, IOC holds a share in 11 exploration blocks within the country, acquired as part of a consortia with upstream companies such as ONGC.