(BS)
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC’s) plan to bring its entire refining and marketing business under one umbrella may get delayed further over its differences with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL). While ONGC wants the merger of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) with ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals (OMPL) first, sources said HPCL wants all the three to happen simultaneously. “Based on regulatory rules, two back-to-back restructuring cannot happen. If OMPL and MRPL are merged, the HPCL-MRPL merger will take some time. This is why the restructuring process is stuck now,” said an official from one of these companies on the condition of anonymity.
ONGC had completed its acquisition of 51.11 stake in HPCL for Rs 36,915 crore in January 2018. During that time, it was said that to bring further synergy in ONGC’s operations, HPCL and MRPL may be merged within six to eight months. Last year, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also said that there may be further consolidation of all the downstream units of ONGC by bringing HPCL, MRPL, OMPL and ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) under one umbrella.
