India's Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said that the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL), in which Iran has a minority stake, has to be merged with its parent company Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).
Addressing a gathering at the CPCL refinery in Manali, near Chennai, the minister said, “When the next stage of expansions happen, it should be within the umbrella of IOCL. I am for CPCL’s merger with IOCL,” Business Standard reported.
Pradhan, however, said that there were some technicalities, such as those related to the shareholding of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company.
NIOC holds a 14% share in CPCL, and due to sanctions, the funding for the expansion of CPCL was stuck. The Indian government has been looking into buying the stake and merging the refinery with IOCL.
Pradhan also said that during his visit to Iran and the US earlier this year, he had discussed the issues with the authorities concerned and that after sanctions on Iran were lifted, the scenario was changing.
