IOC to invest Rs 2,000cr in gas JV with RIL

Indian Oil Corporation today said it plans to invest about Rs 2,000 crore in a joint venture with Reliance Industries for retailing natural gas to households and automobiles.

"We are in talks for a 50:50 JV for city gas distribution project along the pipeline Reliance Industries is building from its KG basin field," Sarthak Behuria, chairman of IOC, said here.

RIL is building pipelines from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai, Ahemdabad and Haldia.

The proposed JV will supply piped gas to households and industries and CNG to automobiles in cities falling along the route of these pipelines.

Behuria said per city investment would be around Rs 200 crore and initially 10 cities have been identified.

He, however, did not set a timeline for formation of the JV or setting up of the city gas distribution project.

The IOC chairman said that his company was open to taking a foreign partner in its Rs 14,000 crore naphtha cracker complex here which would make raw material for polyester.

"We have always said we are open to taking partners but the project construction is not dependent on any partner joining in. We are going ahead with construction on our own and will commission the project in 2009," he said.

Foreign partners can join later on mutually acceptable terms, he added.