IndianOil ropes in CaIik Enerji
New Delhi   19-Dec-2007
IndianOil the nation's biggest refiner, is in talks to acquire a fuel retailing company, in Turkey as it expands operations in the country bordering Europe company in Turkey, a company official said but declined to identify the target company. The once state-owned POAS is the leading player in the distribution, marketing and storage of refining petroleum products m Turkey Besides, several other companies also have a sizeable market share, including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell Total, arid Turkish company Opet IndianOil had in consortium with Calik early this month won a license to build an oil refinery in Turkey. It will be a 15 million tons refinery costing $4.9 billion, the official said. The refinery will be at Ceyhan, where the Baku Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and pipeline from Iraq terminate. The refinery would cater to the export markets. Calik Enerji and IndianOil are also building a $1.5 billion pipeline that is designed to carry Russian and Kazakh oil from the Black Sea port of Samsun to the Mediterranean/ by passing the congested and bad, weather-prone Turkish-Straits. The official said “IndianOil along with its exploration partner Oil India Ltd continues to look; for acquisition of, an overseas medium-sized oil producing company. We have in the past looked at various opportunities but nothing has been finalised as. Yet we want a company that may have oilfields in Africa or in countries that were part of the former Soviet Union Earlier this year IndianOil had lost out in the race for acquiring French company Maurel & Prom's stake in oilfields in Congo. In 2003, it had even looked at acquiring the entire Maurel & Prom but negotiations broke off on price. Then it looked at Niko Resources of. Canada and Indian assets of Cairn Energy Pic of UK but was unsuccessful.”