Oil India to spend Rs 4,500cr in two years

Oil India (OIL) has lined up investments of around Rs 4,500 crore over the next two years.

M R Pasrija, chairman, OIL, said the company will invest in drilling and overseas operations, both domestic and overseas, laying of pipelines and meet capital requirements.

OIL expects to part fund the investments from the proceeds of its proposed IPO.

"The company has already filed the draft red herring prospectus with Sebi, and our IPO will hit the markets in February 2008," Pasrija said on the sidelines of the 32nd regional conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India held in the city.

At present, the government holds 98.17% stake in OIL while the remaining stake is with employees. Following the IPO, the government's stake will drop to 78.43% as 10% will be divested to the general public and another 10% to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.

OIL would commence the drilling operations in two of its exploration blocks in Libya by December next year.

"OIL was awarded six bocks in Libya in December this year out of which it will operate two blocks jointly with IOC. We will commence drilling in the two blocks by December next year. The company also expects to sign the production sharing agreement soon for the remaining four blocks," Pasrija said.