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"We are bidding for acquiring Turkish government's 50 per cent stake in TUPRAS," a top IOC official said. TUPRAS owns four refineries - Izmit, Izmir, Kirikkale and Batman - with a combined capacity of 27.6 million tonnes per annum.
With the total processing capacity of all refineries in Turkey amounting to 32 million tonnes a year, TUPRAS, on its own possesses some 86 percent of the country's total refinery capacity.
It also owns petrochemical production capacity of 153,000 tonnes per annum. The profit-making TUPRAS is a listed firm with 49 per cent of its share public traded on Turkish stock exchanges. It has a market capitalisation of about $3 billion.
"The company is also ideally positioned from the standpoints of infrastructure, location, and logistical support for importation of crude oil, LPG and other petroleum products," the official said adding IOC is submitting an expression of interest for acquisition of 51 per cent stake in TUPRAS to privatisation administration of Turkey.
This would be first acquisition of a refining company by IOC outside India. The company has already submitted EoI for equity participation in three state-owned refineries of Nigeria and setting up a new refinery in Edo state in Nigeria.
IOC has also submitted EoIs for setting up a grassroot refinery in Algeria and modernisation of Aden refinery in Yemen.