BPCL to acquire 36.63% stake in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd

Ahead of its planned divestment, the board of directors of the state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has approved the proposal to increase its stake in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd. The board at the same meet also approved the merger of Bharat Gas Resources ltd with the company.

BPCL on Thursday in a regulatory filing informed, its board has accorded its approval for the acquisition of 36.62 per cent (888,613,336 shares) of equity shares in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL) from OQ S.A.O.C. (formerly known as Oman Oil Company S.A.O.C). The Board of Directors has also approved the proposal to approach Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP) for acquiring 269,00,000 warrants held by GoMP in BORL.

BORL was incorporated on February 25, 1994. The company became a subsidiary of BPCL in April this year. The authorised share capital of BORL is Rs 7000 crore and paid-up share capital is Rs. 2426.83 crore. BPCL holds 63.38 per cent of the paid-up share capital of BORL and OQ S.A.O.C holds 36.62 per cent of the paid-up share capital. The revenue from Operations of BORL for the financial years; 2019-20 was Rs 41,940.96 crore, 2018- 19 was Rs 31,597.59 crore, 2017- 18 was Rs 31,287.48 crore.

BORL has a refinery of 7.8 MMTPA capacity at Bina, Madhya Pradesh, Crude Oil import/ supply system consisting of a Single Point Mooring System, Crude Oil Terminal at Vadinar, Gujarat and 937 KMs long cross country crude oil pipeline from Vadinar to Bina.

In a separate regulatory filing, BPCL informed that its board has also approved the proposal to merge Bharat Gas Resources Ltd (BRGL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPCL with itself. Bharat Gas Resources was incorporated in June 2018 for handling its natural gas business.

BGRL is engaged in the business of Natural Gas. The Authorised Equity Share capital of BGRL is Rs 2300 crore and current paid-up capital is Rs.558.62 crore. During the financial year 2019-20, BGRL has recorded revenue from operations of Rs.273.35 crore.

BPCL is undergoing a divestment process, where three expressions of interest have reportedly been received. The transaction advisors started the evaluation process of these bids on Tuesday.