ONGC considers buying out rest of petrochemical project

SINGAPORE: India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp plans to buy out the rest of a western Indian petrochemical project it does not already own and launch a public offering if it fails to find a strategic partner for it, its head of finance said on Tuesday.

ONGCNSE 0.80 % Petro additions (OPaL), majority-owned by ONGC, is primarily a polymer manufacturer, a chemical compound used in everything from textiles to plastics and packaging.

“We are looking at various options. Our first preference is to convert OPaL into a subsidiary by converting share warrants and debenture into equity if we don’t get a strategic partner,” Subhash Kumar, ONGC’s director of finance told Reuters. “Another option is to merge OPaL with ONGC.”