Oil India is out wining and dining Eagle Ford operators. The company announced it is looking for a minority stake of 20-30% in U.S. shale acreage and is looking at the Eagle Ford. Gail and Carrizo Inked an Eagle Ford JV in September of 2011 and Reliance and Pioneer inked a shale deal in 2010, so it's no surprise to see Oil India might want to follow suit. Oil India has spoken with ConocoPhillips and word hit the news wire early Monday. While it is not out of the realm of possibility, a joint-venture between the two companies would likely include much more than the $200-300 million investment Oil India is looking to make. Oil India might have assets it is willing to trade, but if not the company is much more likely to find a suitable partner in a company with a smaller acreage position. Using the $25,000 per acre price paid in the Hunt Oil -Marubeni Partnership announced two weeks ago, Oil India is in the market to buy 10,000-15,000 acres of prime Eagle Ford acreage. That's much less than 20-30% of Conoco's 220,000+ acres in the play. If the two companies reach an agreement, it will include additional consideration or it will be limited to a much smaller area than Conoco's current footprint in South Texas.

India's state-run explorer Oil India is in talks with U.S.-based companies, including ConocoPhillips, to buy stake in shale gas assets in the U.S., its head of finance T.K. Ananth Kumar said on Monday.

"We are in talks with some of the US-based companies and ConocoPhillips is one of them. They have met us," Kumar told Reuters.

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