IOC has put in a bid to buy British Petroleum's stake in its petro-marketing ventures in Kenya. BP Africa is in partnership with Shell in three petro-marketing companies and also has a stake in a coastal refinery in Mombasa.
BP is planning to exit the Kenya market and has put its stake on the block. Several companies including, partner, Shell is in the race to acquire BP's stake too.
Petro-market leader IOC's move comes close on the heels of its failed attempt to acquire Tupras Refinery in Turkey. IOC has drawn up an expansive strategy to move into new markets, particularly in the African continent.
Senior IOC officials have recently said that the company was hoping to raise money by selling a part of its holding in ONGC to fund their acquisition of marketing and retail assets abroad.
British Petroleum, which holds a stake through its subsidiary BP Africa in the three petro-marketing companies, is set to offload its 50 percent shareholding held in a joint venture with the Dutch company Shell.
BP, which has shareholding in three local companies, BP Kenya, Kenya Shell and BP Malindi, will also, is offloading its 17.1 percent shareholding in Kenya Petroleum refineries. The other stake holders in this company include Shell, Caltex and the Kenyan National Oil Company.
Hindustan Petroleum, which has recently tied up with BP for developing a refinery in Punjab and a JV retail market in India, was also learnt to be keen onthese assets. BP's agreement with HPCL also provides for HPCL to farm in some of BP's assets globally.
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