India to transfer HPCL shares to ONGC

NEW DELHI, February 27, 2017 – India’s largest NOC, ONGC, might acquire the country’s third-largest fuel retailer, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), for INR 440 billion (USD 6.58 billion), local media reported on Monday.

“The government is looking at creating an integrated oil company and the idea is to merge an oil producer with a refiner,” an anonymous top source told the Economic Times.

The move would involve the transfer of a 51.11% government stake in HPCL that, at recent share prices of INR 561, is worth some USD 4.35 billion, the newspaper calculated, as well as a buyout of 26% from the market for about USD 2.22 billion.

If the deal goes through, it would increase ONGC’s crude refining capacity by 23.8 million tpy, elevating it to the country’s third-biggest refiner position after Indian Oil Corporation and Reliance Industries.

The news came as IOCL shares dipped 2.4% on Monday after the Odisha state government reportedly cut tax incentives to its Paradip refinery in a saga that many expect would end in court.

In other developments over the weekend, IOCL awarded an EPC contract to L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering to conduct upgrades worth some INR 11 billion (USD 165 million) at the Bongaigaon refinery in the Assam state, Reuters reported.

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