IOC may build $5 bln refinery in Turkey

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is interested in building a $5 billion refinery in Turkey and is currently carrying out feasibility work on the project, junior trade minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia , said on Friday. 

IOC and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) are interested in exploring for oil and natural gas in Turkey, Scindia also told reporters. 

IOC "is looking at setting up a 15 million tonne refinery company in Turkey," Scindia said, referring to the volume of crude oil a facility could process in a year. "They are evaluating the feasibility of this." 

The Delhi-based company had previously planned to build a refinery with Turkey's Calik Holding at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, where pipelines carrying Iraqi and Azeri crude terminate. 

Plans for that plant were put on hold during the global financial crisis in 2008, and Scindia did not say whether IOC would partner again with Calik. 

India imports about 70 percent of its oil and gas and is interested in exploring for new sources, Scindia said. 

Turkey has tiny amounts of gas and oil reserves, requiring it to import about 95 percent of the fuels. 

But the government has agreed in recent years with U.S.-based Chevron and Brazilian state oil company Petrobras to look for gas off its Black Sea coast.

IOC beats RIL to be India's No 1 refiner

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has surpassed Reliance Industries to regain its position as nation's biggest refiner after it completed expansion of its Panipat unit.

"We have this week completed expansion of our Panipat refinery (in Haryana) to 15 million tonnes (from 12 million tonnes)," IOC Director (Refineries) B N Bankapur said.

Before the expansion, IOC's eight refineries had a total crude oil refining capacity of 51.2 million tonnes a year and together with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL), it had a combined refining capacity of 61.7 million tonnes.

After Panipat expansion, IOC group's refining capacity has increased to 64.7 million tonnes, ahead of 62 million tonnes of refining capacity that Reliance Industries has at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

IOC was the largest oil refiner in the country before Reliance started its 29 million tonnes a year only-for-exports unit adjacent to its 33 million tonnes a year plant at Jamnagar.

"This year have raised Haldia refinery capacity by 1.5 million tonnes to 7.5 million tonnes," Bankapur said.

IOC is mulling raising the capacity of its Koyali refinery in Gujarat to 16 or 18 million tonnes a year from current 13.7 million tonnes a year.

"We will conduct feasibility of raising Koyali refinery capacity to either 16 or 18 million tonnes in next 3-4 months," he said.

Also IOC has sought approval from Supreme Court to raise capacity of its 8 million tonnes Mathura plant to 11 million tonnes.

IOC's refining capacity would rise to 80 million tonnes by 2012 after it commissions a 15 million tonnes a year unit at Paradip refinery in Orissa.

IOC to pick up 26% stake in NPCIL Kota N-plant for Rs 900 cr

State-run oil marketing company Indian Oil on Friday said it will invest about Rs 900 crore to pick up a 26 per cent stake in Nuclear Power Corporation's 1,400-MW atomic power project at Kota, in Rajasthan. 

"We would join Nuclear Power Corporation by picking up 26 per cent equity for Rs 900 crore in their 1,400-MW Kota atomic plant," Indian Oil CMD B M Bansal told reporters here. 

Nuclear Power Corporation is setting up a 1,400-MW (2x700-MW) nuke plant at Kota, in Rajasthan, which is scheduled for completion by 2015-16. 

"The joint venture agreement would be signed in a month," Bansal added. 

IOC would hold 26 per cent equity in the project, which is proposed to be financed by both partners in the debt equity ratio of 70:30. 

Meanwhile, the company is gearing up for its follow-on public offer in January, through which it expects to raise about Rs 20,000 crore. 

The government plans to offload 10 per cent of its equity holding in Indian Oil through the FPO and an equal stake would be diluted by the PSU company. 

Following the stake sale, the government's holding in IOC would reduce to 64.57 per cent from the existing 78.92 per cent. 

Indian Oil has hired six investment banks -- Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, ICICI Securities, Morgan Stanley, SBI Capital and UBS -- to manage the public offer. 

The mega offer is a part of the government's Rs 40,000 crore disinvestment programme this fiscal. 

Apart from IOC, the government has lined up stake sales in Hindustan Copper, Manganese Ore India Ltd and SAIL, among other PSUs, this fiscal.