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Govt open to deliberating on merger of oil firms Dharmendra Pradhan

The government is open to deliberating on the issue of mega merger of state-owned oil firms for creating a behemoth, petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.“The government plans to deliberate on the issue of merging the E&P companies and oil marketing firms in the public sector,” Pradhan told PTI.The state-owned oil companies are Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd .He said with crude oil prices falling, the profits and margins of state-owned E&P (exploration and production) firms ONGC and OIL were getting eroded.“Both ONGC and OIL are taking a hit on profits. The issue had been recently flagged by a director of one of the PSUs that it was in interest of the E&P firms to get merged with the oil marketing companies. There is nothing wrong in discussing the issue within the ministry,” he said.

Regarding the mega refinery on the west coast, he said the process of land acquisition is yet to begin. The proposed west coast mega refinery would come up in Maharashtra with a capacity of 60 million tonnes (in two phases).Pradhan said an SPV involving IOC, BPCL and HPCL has been formed for the project.“The exact equity pattern, quantum of land required and the total investment required is to be decided by the promoters,” Pradhan said.