Rajasthan to set up own oil corporation

After Gujarat, the Rajasthan government has now decided to set up a petroleum corporation.

A decision on this was taken at a Cabinet meeting of the state government held here today.

"The formation of the Rajasthan State Petroleum Corporation will ensure the state's partnership in the exploration, exploitation, transportation and distribution of oil drilled in the state," Rajasthan Mines Minister LN Dave said here today.

The state government's corporation will have an equity base of Rs 5-50 crore.

"The equity pattern is still being discussed and it will be shared between the state government and one of the state public sector undertakings," Dave said.

The corporation would allow private sector participation, but the majority share would be held by the state government, Dave said. It would help the state government in pursuing its business in both the upstream and downstream sectors, he added.

The corporation will build infrastructure in association with exploring agencies in the private sector. Dave said it was proposed that gas grids would be set up for distribution in urban areas.

The recent oil findings by Cairn India have given a boost to oil exploration activities in the state. Cairn India had made a major oil discovery in Mangala at the beginning of 2004. It has till now made 20 discoveries in Rajasthan.

Besides this, work relating to the discovery of oil, gas and coal-bed methane is in progress in seven blocks.