US oil major Caltex Petroleum Corporation has chalked out specific areas in the petroleum sector where it is interested as part of its $500 million investment plan in India.
The major areas where the global giant would like to put in its money include establishment of import terminals for petroleum products, refining of crude petroleum products, construction of pipelines and setting up of a marketing network.
The multinational is waiting for the petroleum ministry to implement its six year perspective plan on deregulation of the oil sector.
For the moment, we are contemplating entering all these fields through the joint venture route, the IBP Caltex managing director John Banner said.
We have seen immense potential in these areas in India and we plan to establish our presence in the country as soon as we can, he added.
Banner stressed that foreign private investment would find its way in the oil sector once the subsidies in the sector were removed and the public sector loosened its hold over the petroleum industry.
India is one of the focus areas where the petroleum giant plans to invest in addition to China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Lebanon. Banner was in Calcutta to announce the $ 50 million LPG handling terminal that is being established at Haldia, West Bengal, a project which it is executing with its Indian joint venture partner IBP.
Initially the US-based multinational had decided to enter LPG handling in India on its own, but during the course of negotiations, it roped in its existing partner IBP for the mega venture. The debt-equity ratio has been fixed at 1.5:1. Caltex has the majority stake of 51 per cent, while IBP holds 49 per cent in the project. According to IBP chairman SN Mathur , the promoters are negotiating with a number of banks and financial institutions for loan. However, the debt servicing side has still to be firmed up. A two-year venture already exists between the two partners in a $ 5 million lube blending plant near Calcutta.
Caltex is one of the largest marketers of petroleum products in the Asia-Pacific and East-of-Suez region. Caltex companies operate in 64 countries and generate annual sales of over $15 billion.
Currently Caltex companies hold equity interests in 14 fuel refineries, 3 lubricant refineries, 17 lube blending plants, 6 grease plants, 6 asphalt plants and 526 ocean terminals and depots all over the world.
