New Delhi: State-run oil firm, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC) has offered Kuwait stakes in its Panipat petrochemicals plant and a refinery at Paradip, Chairman Sarthak Behuria told reporters on Friday.
"We have talked about inviting investments in the Panipat cracker and Paradip refinery. These are the two opportunities they (Kuwait) can consider," he said after meeting Kuwait's oil minister.
Shares on IOC surged 8.8 per cent at Rs 400.50 in a firm Mumbai market.
The refiner has doubled the capacity of its Panipat refinery, in the northern state of Haryana, to 240,000-barrels-per-day in May at a cost of $940 million.
A $1.1 billion petrochemicals unit is being set up in Panipat to make paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid.
In April, IOC's board approved plans to build a new 300,000-bpd refinery at Paradip, in the eastern state of Orissa.
Kuwait's oil minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah had on Thursday said the OPEC member had no interest in a new refinery, but was open to invest and partner in existing Indian refineries.
He said, Kuwait was keen on investing in existing Indian refineries and assuring crude supply to them over the long-term as Asia's third largest economy buys nearly 10 percent or 270,000-bpd of its oil needs from Kuwait.
"We believe the demand in India is increasing the fastest after China and for that we believe India will the need the security of supply," the minister added.
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