India BPCL’s Bina refinery jv to raise about 12 bln rupees via IPO
India’s Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, a joint-venture project between Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Oman Oil Corp, is planning to raise 10-12 bln rupees via an initial public offering by March 2008 for its 6 million tonnes per year Bina refinery in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The Bina refinery received government approval in 1995 but was delayed due to various reasons.
In a media briefing after the group’s annual shareholders’ meeting, BPCL chairman and managing director Ashok Sinha said the project is now on target after placing orders worth about 70 bln rupees and having completed 26 pct of the work.
The refinery, estimated to cost 104 bln rupees to be funded via 40 bln in equity and the remainder by debt, is scheduled to begin operations by 2009.
BPCL and Oman Oil Corp’s will jointly hold a 52 pct stake and the remaining 48 pct will be allotted to private investors and the public, Sinha said.
The Bina refinery will have crude oil import facilities comprising a single point mooring facility, a crude oil storage terminal at Vadinar in the western state of Gujarat and a 935 km cross-country crude oil pipeline from Vadinar to Bina, Sinha said.
The company also plans to lay a 265 km pipeline from Bina to Kota in the western state of Rajasthan at a cost of 4.06 bln rupees. This pipeline will be connected to the existing Mumbai-Delhi pipeline, Sinha added.
The company also announced in-principle approval for setting up a joint-venture company with US company Matrix Marine Fuels on a 50:50 equity participation basis to handle bunkering in Singapore, the largest market for this business with capacity of 28 mln metric tonnes.
BPCL said it has taken part in an international tender for the joint development of LPG storage, bottling and distribution facilities in Kenya and is making efforts to market gas used for metal cutting and brazing applications in the Middle East with local partners.
Regarding its upstream exploration and production agreement, Sinha said the company is at the advanced stages at the land block in Cachar in the eastern state of Assam. In its 20 pct owned Australian block, a contract for seismic data reprocessing has been awarded and other exploration activities have started.
In another offshore block between East Timor and Australia in which BPCL has a 25 pct interest, data analysis is at an advanced stage. In February, BPCL farmed into an offshore Australian block with a 20 pct interest, where it plans to drill a well in late 2008.
It also plans to drill in its offshore block in the North Sea in UK in which it has 25 pct interest.
BPCL is also evaluating exploration and production opportunities in South America, West Africa and South East Asia, Sinha added.
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