Public sector oil firms to invest Rs 76L cr on project expansion in FY16

New Delhi: State-run oil firms including Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will invest over Rs 76,565 crore on the project expansion during 2015-16, up 5 percent over the previous fiscal. ONGC, the nation’s most profitable company, will see its capital expenditure rise to Rs 36,249.37 crore as compared with Rs 34,813 crore in the current fiscal, according to the Budget 2015-16 document.[caption id=“attachment_2007807” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Its overseas investment arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd, will invest another Rs 10,402 crore in 2015-16. This, however, is lower than the investment of Rs 12,387 crore in the current fiscal. Oil India Ltd (OIL) has projected its capex rising by 11 percent to Rs 3,917.64 crore. Refining and marketing companies will invest Rs 20,256.02 crore with Indian Oil Corp (IOC) leading the pack with 10.5 percent increase in the capex at Rs 9,407.80 crore. It will invest another Rs 1,000 crore in exploration and production as well as petrochemical business. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will see a marginal decline in its capex of Rs 1,636.64 crore in 2015-16 when compared with Rs 1,763.56 crore in the previous year. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will see its refining capex go up by 11.6 percent to Rs 5,101.32 crore besides another Rs 1,400 crore being invested in E&P business. Gas utility GAIL India Ltd will invest Rs 2,704.51 crore as opposed to Rs 2,131.52 crore capex in 2014-15. The Budget for 2015-16 provides for Rs 30,000 crore towards domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene subsidy. Of this Rs 21,140 crore has been provided for transferring as direct cash subsidy to cooking gas users under the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL). Another Rs 860 crore has been provided for subsidy payable to North Eastern Region and project management expenditure. For kerosene, it provided Rs 8,000 crore subsidy. The subsidy provided compares with Rs 57,085 crore in the revised estimate for 2014-15. This was provided to state-owned oil companies to make up for losses incurred on fuel sales at government-controlled rate. The revised estimate of Rs 57,085 crore compares to Rs 57,335.95 crore provided in the Budget estimate of 2014-15. In 2013-14, Rs 80,772 crore was provided for subsidy compensation. PTI