The Hindu : Business : OIL to step up exploration

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Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008
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OIL to step up exploration

Special Correspondent

To pump Rs. 4,500 crore over the next two years

BANGALORE: Oil India (OIL) plans to invest Rs. 4,500 crore in the next two years to expand its activities, including exploration for oil and natural gas. Part of this may be raised from its proposed public offer and the balance from internal accruals, Chairman and Managing Director M. R. Pasrija told reporters here on Tuesday.

OIL received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for the IPO on September 11 with a 90-day limit to complete the process and the Union Government’s approval was now awaited, he said.

Strong fundamentals

The public offer, amounting to 11 per cent of the pre-offer equity, will include one per cent reserved for employees. OIL has also entered into agreement with the government to offer another ten per cent equity to Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corpora- tion (HPCL).

“We are strong in fundamentals, had a net profit of Rs. 1,789 crore last fiscal and have 19 oil or gas yielding properties besides active exploration in India and overseas. We are ready for the IPO,” Mr. Pasrija remarked. Within India, it pumped out 12.83 million barrels of crude oil in the first six months of this year. The consortium of OIL, Algeria’s Sonatrach and IOC, has taken up exploration covering almost 7,000 sq. km. area in Libya. The company has a presence in Nigeria, Gabon, Yemen and in Iran.

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