Regarding Indian oil - Read this article..
Indian Oil Seeks Firms to Meet Fuel Demand
by Manash Goswami, Bloomberg News International Herald Tribune
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 Indian Oil, the biggest refiner in the nation, may spend as much as $3 billion to buy an overseas oil producer to meet rising demand in India.
The target will be a company that owns fields in Africa or countries that were part of the former Soviet Union, B.M. Bansal, the director for business development, said in New Delhi on Monday. The acquisition will be made jointly with Oil India, a state-run explorer, he said.
Indian Oil and Oil & Natural Gas, the biggest explorer in the nation, are scouting projects in Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Africa to meet fuel demand in a race with China.
India imports three-fourths of its oil as production from aging domestic fields is slumping.
"We would like to tap some new areas that are coming up in the world oil map rather than trying to get into already established markets," Bansal said. "We are working both at our level and at a government-to-government level."
The refiner is seeking new oil-producing areas and has sought government help in its hunt for crude producers.
India, beaten by China to more than $10 billion of overseas energy assets in the last two years, plans to emulate its rival by building ports and railways in Africa to secure oil and gas fields. Indian companies will seek to build refineries and pipelines in oil- producing nations in Africa, Murli Deora, the oil minister, said Nov. 6 at an India-Africa conference to discuss oil cooperation.
India needs to find new sources of fuel as the government wants to bump up growth to 10 percent from about 9 percent expected this year to increase jobs and eradicate poverty in a country where half of the 1.1 billion population live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.
Indian Oil wants to get about two million metric tons of crude oil a year from overseas fields it will hold by 2012.
The company wants to own exploration areas overseas, fields that have already been discovered and need to be developed for production and producing areas, Bansal said. The company owns blocks in countries like Libya, Nigeria and Yemen where finds have yet to be made, he said. "The idea is to have a diversified portfolio," he said.
To secure fields, the company will offer to build refineries and pipelines in return. Indian Oil has already made such offers to Nigeria, Libya and Turkey, he said.
"Acquiring a company will add value to Indian Oil," said Rohit Ahuja, an analyst at J.M. Financial ASK Securities. "They are in need of oil and getting it from their own source will mean getting it cheaper. That will help in improving their refining margins."
(C) 2007 International Herald Tribune. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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