India wants to create state oil company bigger than Chevron and Rosneft
The Indian government is planning to unite 13 state oil firms to create a giant corporation, the Economic Times reports. The revenue of the new company would exceed that of Chevron, and its market value will be bigger than Russia's Rosneft.
According to the media, the new oil major will be the biggest company in India in terms of turnover, net profit, capital expenditure and market capitalization.
The largest piece in the mega-merger is the country’s oil producer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The other companies are the country’s biggest refiner and fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation, as well as Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum, GAIL, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), Chennai Petroleum, Numaligarh Refinery and Oil India.
The six biggest companies from the list have a market cap of $77 billion. In comparison, the market value of Russia's Rosneft is $55 billion.
India was considering the merger in 2005, but gave up the idea, as it was decided the big united company may harm competition in country’s energy sector.
In May, ONGC bought a 15 percent stake in Rosneft’s Indian subsidiary Vankorneft for $1.27 billion. In the fall, Rosneft is expected to close the deal with other Indian companies - Oil India, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroresources - for the acquisition of a 29.9 percent stake in TAAS-Yuryakh that explores and produces oil and gas in Siberia. The deal also includes the sale of a 23.9 percent stake in Vankorneft and could be worth $5 billion.
