Government-run refiner Bharat Petroleum?s (BPCL) joint venture with Oman Oil Company (OOC) is expected to file for an initial public offering (IPO) by the end of calendar year 2013, a top BPCL executive told FE.
Bharat Oman Refineries (BORL), a 50-50 joint-venture, runs a refinery in Bina, Madhya Pradesh where 6 million tonne of crude oil can be processed per year.
The company plans to expand the refinery?s capacity to 9 mt per year. The money from the IPO will be used to fund the plant?s expansion and help pay interest costs. ?We expect to get a good price from the IPO. We should get R40-45 per share,? BK Datta, director (refineries), told FE on Saturday. The director did not say how many shares of BORL will be listed or how much money is expected to be raised in the offering.
Following the IPO, BPCL will have a 49% stake in BORL, while OOC will hold 26%, according to the company?s annual report. The company is working on improving the efficiency of the plant, where operations started last year. BORL has a paid-up capital, or money put in by BPCL and OOC, of R1,777.23 crore. OOC is an oil investment company owned by the West Asian country.
The plans to list BORL come at a time when the refiner is trying to reinvent itself as a major exploration and production player after huge finds of oil and gas in some of the blocks it owns.
The company?s E&P arm, Bharat PetroResources, had last year reported finds of oil and gas in Mozambique, Brazil and Indonesia. Anadarko Petroleum, the operator of the block in Mozambique, is working to tap into the block?s resources.
?The complexion of this company will change completely in the next four to five years and we?ll be a major player in E&P,? chairman and managing director RK Singh said at a conference on Friday.