IndianOil scouts for more oil & gas assets
New Delhi   27-Dec-2016

India's largest refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOCL) has been scouting for exploration and production assets as part of its plan to become an integrated energy company. At the heart of it, says chairman B Ashok, is the company's desire to diversify in a bid to insulate itself from the volatilities of the sector and increase its sources of revenue. “We would be quite comfortable if we are able to meet about 10% of our crude oil requirement in terms of our own equity oil over the next few years,” Ashok said. IndianOil currently produces 2.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) and aims to double its oil and gas production in five years. The refining behemoth, for long a passive partner in its upstream investments, is turning pro-active. In November, it bid for five contract areas in the auction for discovered domestic small and marginal fields. The outcome of the auction is yet to be declared. “We now have a reasonably large organisation within our company with proper capabilities for handling upstream assets. We think marginal fields are also an opportunity for us to do some sort of an operatorship. We are looking at more active participation in the upstream sector,” Ashok said. At present, IndianOil's upstream portfolio consists of 17 blocks in total. Of these, five are under production. The company's cumulative total investment in domestic upstream assets as of March 31 was $383.05 million. In overseas upstream assets, it was $1.73 billion. Since then, the company's investment in overseas assets has further gone up with the $3.14 billion deal between a consortium of Indian Oil, Bharat PetroResources Ltd and Oil India Ltd, and Russia's Rosneft for stakes in two Russian fields - Vankor and Taas Yuryakh. Scaling upstream is just one aspect of growth for Indian Oil, which is also busy securing its position as India's largest crude oil refiner and fuel retailer as the country sees rise in fuel demand. In 2015-16, India's demand for petrol grew 14.5% on year.

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