IOC looks at stake acquisitions in Africa

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country''s largest crude oil refiner and marketer of petroleum products, is in negotiations with various African countries for acquiring stake in discovered oil and gas blocks. They are in negotiations with Nigeria and some other African countries for exploration and production blocks. The company has also decided to increase its crude oil imports from Nigeria from 2 million tonnes per annum to 3 million tonnes. Global oil companies such as Brazil''s Petrobras, Italian ENI and Norway-based NorskHydro have previously followed the same route to buy stake in oil blocks operated by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in India. IOC is keen on purchasing stake in refineries in Africa. It will, however, buy stake only if the refinery is bundled with an oil or gas block. Separately, IOC has offered to infuse in a gas-based petrochemicals plant and for setting up a liquefied natural gas facility in Mozambique. IOC has also agreed to help increase the liquefied petroleum gas storage capacity in Mauritius. IOC already retails petrol and diesel in Mauritius through its fully owned subsidiary Indian Oil (Mauritius).