Indian Oil expands JV with Malaysia’s Petronas to focus on LNG plants

Indian Oil Corp is expanding its joint venture with Malaysia's state-run Petronas to include building liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, fuel retailing and gas distribution, Chairman SM Vaidya said on Friday.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is imported by Indian Oil Corp under the IndianOil Petronas Pvt Ltd which is its equal joint venture with the Malaysian oil giant.

The state-run company is focusing on strengthening its grip on new cleaner energy (including Hydrogen) and hence is keen on expanding its partnerships with the global oil firms.

"We are pursuing more such win-win associations with respective segment leaders to explore newer avenues of growth and gain competitive advantage in the future," Vaidya said at the annual shareholders meet.

Indian Oil Corp has announced an investment of 1 trillion Indian rupees ($13.49 billion) in order to ramp up its refining capacity by 25 million tonnes every year in the next couple of years, Vaidya said.

He also added that the company is also looking forward to ramping up the yields of chemical products.