Petronas, Japan’s JXTG Holdings in race to buy stake in Bina Refinery

Malaysian oil and gas major Petronas and Japan’s JXTG Holdings are reportedly looking to acquire a stake in India’s Bina Refinery.

Located at Bina in the state of Madhya Pradesh, the refinery has a crude oil processing capacity of 156,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The Indian oil refinery, which was commissioned in June 2011, is operated by Bharat Oman Refineries (BORL),  a 50-50 joint venture between Oman Oil and state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL).

JXTG Holdings may acquire the stake in the Bina Refinery in a consortium with other companies.

“There are a new set of companies who have approached BPCL for a stake in its Bina refinery,” a source, who is close to the matter, told Reuters.

BPCL is contemplating to build a petrochemical complex at the refinery with an investment of $7.24 billion.

Apart from that, the state-run oil company plans to double the capacity of the Bina refinery in the next five years.

The initial expansion of the refinery saw its capacity increase to 156,000 bpd from 120,000 bpd. But, Oman Oil did not take part in this initial expansion, which was a debottlenecking project to increase the refining capacity.

If Oman Oil decides to invest in the second phase expansion, its total stake in the refinery would not reach 50% because of its non-participation in the initial expansion.

BPCL intends to retain a stake of 50% in the Bina Refinery, allowing it to have a new partner.

In about three months’ time, the Middle Eastern company will decide on the stake it intends to own in the expanded facility, keeping the remaining stake open for acquisition, the source told the publication.

International oil companies are looking to gain entry into India’s oil refining oil sector due to a growing demand for gasoline and petrochemical products.

Further, the world’s third-biggest oil importer targets to increase its refining capacity by 77% to about 8.8 million bpd by 2030.