The Assam government on Monday said the north east region's largest refinery -- Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) -- will be privatised if the Centre sells its stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).
India's second biggest oil refining and marketing company
holds a majority stake in NRL.
"If BPCL is privatised, NRL will go into the hands of a private player. In the wake of this, (Chief Minister Sarbananda) Sonowal today sent a letter to the central government," a release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
BPCL has a 61.65-per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery, while Oil India and the Assam government have 26 per cent and 12.35 per cent holding, respectively.
Following reports of the Centre's proposal to sell its entire shareholding in BPCL, protests have erupted in and around Numaligarh in Golaghat district, fearing privatisation of the Assam-based company.
NRL had said it was expanding capacity from the existing 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA at an investment of Rs 22,594 crore over the next 48 months.
The government is looking at selling its 53.29 per cent stake in BPCL to a strategic investor in the biggest privatisation bid in the history of India.
BPCL has a market capitalisation of Rs 1.05 lakh crore and its acquisition together with the mandatory open offer to minority shareholders would cost upwards of Rs 82,000 crore.
On September 30, a group of secretaries on disinvestment gave its approval for to sell government's entire 53.29 per cent stake in BPCL, which is likely to be completed by March 31, next year.
BPCL is the country's the second-largest state-owned refining and marketing firm, accounting for 15 per cent of total installed refining capacity. In addition, it markets 21 per cent of petroleum products consumed in the country by volume as of March this year.
It operates four refineries at Mumbai, Kochi in Kerala, Bina in Madhya Pradesh and Numaligarh in Assam with a combined capacity to convert 38.3 million tonnes of crude oil into fuel. It has 15,078 petrol pumps and 6,004 LPG distributors.
India has a total refining capacity of 249.4 million tonnes and 65,554 petrol pumps and 24,026 LPG distributors.
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