NEW DELHI, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) could soon acquire the country's third-largest fuel retailer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) in a 6.6 billion U.S. dollars deal as part of the government's plans to create a mega oil company.
However, a final decision in this regard will have to be taken by the Indian government, which is the largest shareholder in both the companies, local media reports said Monday, quoting sources, adding that Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hinted about it when he had presented this year's budget.
There are only six major Indian companies in the sector - ONGC, Oil India Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation, HPCL and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd.
If the merger takes place, HPCL will add some 23.8 million tonnes of annual oil refining capacity to ONGC's portfolio, making the latter the third-largest refiner in the country after state-owned Indian Oil Corporation and privately owned Reliance Industries, the reports said.
The acquisition will also give ONGC the size that would be comparable to big global oil companies like Shell BP and Exxon.
