DIBRUGARH, July 1 ? Oil India Limited (OIL) has been upgraded to Schedule ?A? and has thus become the first North East based company to be given Schedule ?A? status. This will provide the company with higher investment power and greater autonomy to the management. The message to this effect from the company?s corporate office at New Delhi today has been received at Duliajan this afternoon amidst much rejoicing.
Main focus of the company remains the North East where the company has further intensified its exploration & development efforts particularly in frontier areas in order to enhance crude oil & gas production in the near future. During the year 2003-04, OIL recorded highest ever production & sale of natural gas. As per the trend of crude oil production during the current year, the company is expected to record highest ever crude oil production and sale during the year.
According to a company spokesman, OIL is in the process of investing around Rs 500 crore in expanding its existing pipeline to transport surplus product of the Numaligarh Refinery to help the refinery in solving its evacuation problem, thereby, making it competitive. The company is also planning to lay a gas pipeline from Duliajan to Guwahati along with Assam Gas Company. In addition to supplying gas to the refineries in the region, additional gas available in the line will also help other industries to develop in the region. OIL is also in the process of replacing its existing UHF communication system with Optical Fibre based communication system in its 1157 kms long trunk pipeline route. After meeting the in-house requirement, the Optic Fibre Cable will have sufficient spare capacity, which can be leased to other telecom service providers. In this regard, OIL has confirmed Government of Assam to supply its spare capacity of Optical Fibre Cable for building the Assam State Wide Area Network (ASWAN), a project of AMTRON, to provide broadband internet services in the south bank of the Brahmaputra.
OIL is also looking for opportunity overseas. It is already having Exploration Service Contract in FARSI block in Iran in consortium with IOC & ONGC Videsh Limited. The company has also acquired equity participation in a pipeline project in Sudan and stake in Block-24 in Syria for which contract is likely to be signed shortly. OIL will also be getting 10% equity in Kushk Husseinieh oilfield out 20% being offered by Iran to government of India. In addition, it is shortly going to acquire stakes in two blocks in Sudan out of which one is already a discovered field and blcok-18 in Angola in consortium with OVL. These acquisitions are expected to bring substantial revenue for OIL in the coming future.
PSUs in India are categorized as Schedule A, B, C and D depending on certain factors both quantitative (investment, capital employed, slaes, profit, no. of units, no. of employees) and qualitative (national importance, complexities of problems, prospects for expansion and diversification, competition from other sectors). There are other factors like the image of the PSU in terms of share prices, MoU ratings, classification as Nav Ratna/Mini Ratna, productivity and value addition etc. There are approximately 50 Schedule ?A? and 250 Schedule ?B? PSUs in the country.
In recognition of its performance and the various growth initiatives taken, OIL has been upgraded to Schedule ?A? from ?B?. The proposal was put up by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and approved by Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and the Cabinet Secretary on Wednesday.