ONGC to name valuer for HPCL buy

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is appointing a financial consultant to value its acquisition of Hindu stan Petroleum Corp Ltd( HP CL ).“We are engaging a consultant to carry out valuation sand we should fin ali se one by the end of this month,” Shashi Shanker, chairmanand managing director of ON G C, said on Saturday.

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is appointing a financial consultant to value its acquisition of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL).

“We are engaging a consultant to carry out valuations and we should finalise one by the end of this month,” Shashi Shanker, chairman and managing director of ONGC, said here on Saturday.

The department of investment and public asset management has begun the sale of the government’s stake in HPCL by appointing consultants and sending an information memorandum to ONGC. “We received an information memorandum from the department of investment last week. The acquisition is expected to conclude by March,” Shanker added.

The department of investment has appointed Citibank, SBI Caps and JM Financial as consultants for the deal. The oil ministry has appointed a little-known Noida-based company, Protocol, to look into the deal.

The Union Cabinet had in July cleared the sale of 51.11 per cent of the government’s holding in HPCL to ONGC in order to create a global energy giant. Based on the current market capitalisation of HPCL, the acquisition is likely to cost ONGC ~35,000 crore.

On ONGC’s findings in shale oil and gas wells, Shankar said the company had drilled 23 wells and the results were not encouraging. ONGC is spending ~700 crore to explore shale oil and gas in the east and west coasts. Shales are sedimentary rocks that can be rich resources for petroleum and natural gas.