|
BPCL
says no to investment oriented growth; to add value
New Delhi, Oct 8: Oil major Bharat Petroleum said on
Monday that it would not pursue investment-oriented strategy
in the near future and would rather concentrate on value-addition
for growth, with the sole exception of taking up Rs 6,500
crore Bina Refinery project.
“We do not want to make fresh investments. Ours is not an
investment-oriented growth strategy,” BPCL chairman and managing
director U Sunderrajan said.
“We would rather concentrate on value-addition to investment
already made,” he said, adding the Corporation had recently
made fresh investment in acquiring controlling stake in Numaligarh
and Kochi Refineries.
Consequent to these investments, totalling over Rs 800 crore,
including that in Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the debt equity ratio
of the company had gone up from 0.6:1 to 1.1:1, he said, adding
over the next two years, the Corporation would seek to use
its surplus reserves for retiring costly loans.
Mr Sunderrajan, however, reiterated committment to take up
the Bina Refinery project in Madhya Pradesh saying that Corporation
would go ahead with the refinery without waiting for any partner
to join.
He said the Bina project would now cost Rs 6,500 crore against
Rs 5,500 crore earlier due to time delays and would take five
years for completion. “However, search for a partner even
at a later date will continue,” Mr Sunderrajan said, virtually
putting the possibility of taking a foreign partner like Kuwait
Petroleum to an end for the time being.
On the contrary, BPCL, which posted a net profit of over Rs
820 crore, would embark on value-addition to its outlets to
meet the challenge from global oil giants like Shell and BP
in the liberalised market from April one, 2001.
“We do not want to be known merely as a petroleum corporation.
We want to be known as a major retailing company,” he said.
Towards this end, the Corporation is promoting opening up
of sales counters for various products including grocery items
at its retail outlets, Mr Sunderrajan said.
— PTI
|
