India's Bharat Oman to file for IPO soon

India's Bharat Oman Refineries
Ltd, an equal joint venture between state-run Bharat Petroleum
Corp (BPCL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Oman Oil Co, will soon file for an initial
public offer to raise up to 25 billion rupees ($635 million),
three banking sources involved in the deal said.

The company plans to sell about 48 percent through the
public offer and a pre-IPO placement, the sources told Reuters
on Tuesday.

"We hope to file the draft prospectus by the end of this
week or early next week," one said.

Bharat Petroleum declined comment on the deal.

Bharat Oman Refineries is building a 120,000 barrels per
day (bpd) refinery at Bina in the central Indian state of
Madhya Pradesh at a cost of about 104 billion rupees and has
tied up a debt portion of about 64 billion rupees.

It is expected to be commissioned by end-2009.

Asian refiners are adding capacity to feed demand in
developed nations where there has been little expansion in
recent years and India hopes to become a regional refining
centre.

India, Asia's third-largest oil consumer, plans to expand
its refining capacity by 62 percent to 4.82 million bpd by
2012, to take advantage of its proximity to oil sources and
emerging markets.

BPCL runs a 240,000 bpd refinery in Mumbai, India's
financial hub, and another 150,000 bpd refinery in Kochi in the
southern state of Kerala. Its subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery
Ltd runs a 60,000 bpd refinery in north-east India. Read More>>