IOC on expansion mode: To spend Rs 32,500 cr

INDIA'S biggest refiner and fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation will be spending about $5 billion (Rs 32,500 cr) to expand its exploration and production business. The half of the amount will be spent into acquisition of new assets that are increasingly becoming available in the wake of a global crude oil crash.
Following the decline in crude oil prices in the global market the oil firms have been redrawing...
plans, shelving projects and touching only those projects that are viable at current prices.
But energy-starved economies like India have been encouraging their firms to go out and buy equity, mainly in producing fields with an aim to aid the country's energy security.
Thus ONGC Videsh recently acquired 15 percent stake in a prolific Russian field. And now Indian Oil hopes to acquire some oil equity overseas.
"Internationally, many assets are on sale. We will look at those," said AK Sharma, director (finance) at IOC. "We will participate in auctions overseas. We also intend to participate in the NELP (domestic auction of hydrocarbon blocks) when it happens."
The company also plans to spend about Rs 15,000 crore to upgrade all its refineries by 2022 to produce fuels compliant with Euro-VI emission norms. This follows a decision by the oil ministry to upgrade and a public clamour led by environment activists to improve the fuel quality to reduce pollution that is choking cities.
IOC has a lower minority stake in the 10 blocks at home and seven overseas. Just three of its projects are producing today. Its biggest overseas purchase happened last year when it bought a 10% stake in the Pacific Northwest LNG, an integrated upstream and liquefied natural gas project in Canada in which it committed an investment of about $4 billion.
Sharma said $1.6 billion has already been invested in the Canadian project and another $2.4 billion will go in two-three years. Another Rs 30,000 crore will be spent on setting up new petrochemicals plants by 2022.