Indian Oil Corp to invest Rs 175000 crores over 7 years

Country's largest oil refiner Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Tuesday said it will be investing Rs 1.75 trillion over the next seven years to expand output by 54% to around 100 million tonnes per annum.

"We have a capex plan of Rs 1.75 trillion over the next seven years. And out of this, Rs 50,000 crore will be for brownfield expansion at existing facilities," its chairman B Ashok told reporters after the company's 56th annual general meeting here.

He said the investment will increase its total output to close to 100 million tonnes per annum from the present 65 million tonnes.

Giving details of the capex programme, he said the state-run company will be investing Rs 35,000 crore into marketing, Rs 15,000 crore for pipelines, Rs 35,000 crore into exploration and production, Rs 30,000 crore into petrochemical projects, and Rs 7,000 crore into gas.

On the payments for Iran, he said IOC has $500 million dollars in pending dues, and the government is discussing the modalities of the payment.

IOC hopes that the payment will be done in two or three installments, he added.

The country is set to pay Iran $700 million to clear more than one-tenth of the outstanding oil dues, ahead of the expected lifting of sanctions against Tehran.

The Reserve Bank of India will make payments of $6.5 billion in past oil dues to Iran "in a calibrated manner so that there is no pressure on exchange rate", a senior finance ministry official had said yesterday.

The IOC scrip shed 0.85% to close at Rs 398.50 a piece on the BSE, as against a 0.58% correction in the benchmark Sensex.