Page 41 - Plastics News April 2021

Business news

Oil India acquires majority share Bharat Petroleum buys OQ’s

in Numaligarh Refinery entire stake in Bina refinery

il India Limited now has 80.16% stakes in the harat Petroleum (BPCL) has reportedly acquired
ONumaligarh Refinery, often referred to as Assam Ba 36.62% stake in Bina refinery situated at Bina in
Accord Refinery. Oil India Limited (OIL), the country’s Madhya Pradesh, India from OQ (formerly known as
second largest public sector hydrocarbon exploration and Oman Oil Company), for INR24bn ($327.1m). A sales
production corporation, said its acquisition of majority purchase agreement has been signed by BPCL with
shares of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has been OQ whereby the Indian firm will acquire OQ’s entire
a strategic business decision to partially mitigate the
effect of volatility of crude price cycle. On March 25, a
consortium of OIL, Engineers India Limited and the Assam
government bought the entire 61.5% stake of Bharat
Petroleum Corporation Limited in NRL. The exploration
major bought 54.16% stakes to raise its shareholding in
the refinery to 80.16%. Formed in 1959, OIL is considered
a ‘local’ organisation because of sentiments attached
to its base in eastern Assam’s Duliajan.OIL has been the
primary source of crude oil for NRL, supplying 67% of the
refinery’s requirement. OIL has also been supplying to the
refinery 1 million metric cubic metres per day out of the
7-8 MMSCMD of natural gas it produces in the northeast. stake in Bharat Oman Refineries, which operates the
NRL’s Managing Director S.K. Barua said the refinery has 7.8 million tonnes per annum capacity oil refinery at
opted for “smart configurations” instead of going for Bina in Madhya Pradesh.BPCL had a 63.4% holding in
a planned expansion worth Rs 28,000-crore in order to BORL while OQ owned a 36.6% interest. BPCL finance
shift to petrochemical products. “We are executing a director N Vijayagopal said: “With the acquisition, BPCL
cross-country crude pipeline 1,630 km in length through will establish control over BORL. This is expected to
Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Assam. We have bring immense advantages to both the companies in
also ventured into production of value-added food-grade terms of synergies and optimisation of returns and will
wax, food-grade hexane and exploring possibilities for facilitate any future expansion or diversification in Bina.
Through compulsorily convertible warrants, the state
government of Madhya Pradesh in India owns minor
stake in BORL. Incorporated in 1994, BORL also has single
point mooring (SPM) system, crude oil terminal (COT)
and a 937km-long cross-country crude oil pipeline from
Vadinar, Gujarat to Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The Indian
government is considering divesting its entire stake
in BPCL. The privatisation-bound company recently
divested its entire 61.5% stake in Numaligarh Refinery
in Assam to consortium of Oil India (OIL) and Engineers
India and Government of Assam for nearly INR98.76bn
developing other niche chemicals like furfural alcohol and ($1.34bn). Oil India acquired a 54.16% stake in NRL
biodegradable plastics,” he said. “The majority acquisition from BPCL, increasing its total stake in NRL to 80.16%.
of NRL is one of the defining moments of OIL’s corporate Engineers India has independently acquired over 3.21
journey as an exploration and production company looking crore equity shares or 4.4% stake in NRL.The remaining
for vertical integration in the oil and gas value chain,” 2.29 crore equity shares has been transferred by BPCL
OIL’s Chairman and Managing Director and NRL Chairman to the Government of Assam on receipt of consideration
Sushil Chandra Mishra said. of nearly INR5bn ($68.1m).

41 April 2021 Plastics News