India?s oil refining and marketing major-Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is a diversified, transnational, integrated energy company. With a sales turnover of Rs 2,20,779 crore ($51 billion) and profits of Rs 7,499 crore ($1.73 billion) for fiscal 2006, IOC is India?s largest commercial enterprise. IOC is also the highest ranked Indian company in the Fortune ?Global 500? listing, having moved up 18 places to the 135th position this year based on its fiscal 2006 performance. IOC is the 20th largest petroleum company in the world.
The Indian Oil Group of companies owns and operates 10 of India?s 19 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 60.2 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA, ie, 1.2 million barrels per day). These include two refineries of subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) and one of Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (BRPL).
For the nine months ended December 2007, IndianOil?s net profit was Rs 7,377 crore, as against Rs 5,997 crore net profit for the same period of the previous year, registering a growth of 23%. The gross turnover moved up by 7% to Rs 1,77,223 crore from Rs 1,65,613 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The corporation sold 46.02 million tonne of products, including 2.59 million tonne by way of exports during the nine months ending December 2007, as compared to 43.02 million tonne (including exports) in the corresponding period of the previous year. The throughput of its refineries and pipelines network was 35.13 million tonne and 42.26 million tonne respectively for the same period, as compared to 32.19 million tonne and 37.85 million tonne respectively in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Saddled with a retail fuel loss of over Rs 300 crore a day, IOC is taking all possible steps to escape reporting a loss in the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2007-08.
IOC recorded profits of Rs 7,499 crore in 2006-07 after bonds worth Rs 13,943 crore were issued to the company. If it weren?t for the oil bonds, IOC could have gone into losses in the last year as well. ?We are losing about Rs 320 crore a day on the sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG, and PDS kerosene,? Sarthak Behuria, chairman, IOC said
In petrochemicals, IndianOil is currently implementing a master plan envisaging Rs 30,000-crore ($6.8 billion) investment by the year 2011-12. Through the world-scale Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant set up at its Gujarat refinery, the corporation has captured a significant market share in India, besides exporting the product to Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam, Norway, and Oman. An integrated paraxylene/purified terephthalic acid plant for polyester intermediates is already in operation at Panipat, while a naphtha cracker with downstream polymer units is also coming up at Panipat. IndianOil?s refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex at Paradip is proposed to be completed by 2011-12.
In exploration and production (E& P), IndianOil has bagged eight oil and gas blocks and two coal bed methane blocks under NELP (New Exploration Licensing Policy) in India. It has also acquired participating interest in two onshore blocks in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Overseas ventures of the corporation include two gas blocks in Sirte Basin of Libya, the Farsi Exploration Block in Iran, onshore farm-in arrangements in Gabon, an onland block in Nigeri,a and two on-shore blocks in Yemen. The corporation is also exploring opportunities to acquire a medium-sized E&P company to consolidate its upstream portfolio.