IOC may build $5 billion refinery in Turkey: Scindia

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is interested in building a $5 billion refinery in Turkey and is currently carrying out feasibility work on the project, minister of state for commerce Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday.

IOC and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) are interested in exploring for oil and natural gas in Turkey, Scindia told reporters.

"IOC is looking at setting up a 15 million tonne refinery company in Turkey," Scindia said, referring to the volume of crude oil the facility could process in a year. "They are evaluating the feasibility of this," he added.

The state-owned company had previously planned to build a refinery with Turkey's Calik Holding at the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, where pipelines carrying Iraqi and Azeri crude terminate. Plans for that plant were put on hold during the global financial crisis in 2008, and Scindia did not say whether IOC would partner again with Calik.

India imports about 70 per cent of its oil and gas and is interested in exploring for new sources, Scindia said.

Turkey has tiny amounts of gas and oil reserves, requiring it to import about 95 per cent of the fuels. But the government has agreed in recent years with US-based Chevron and Brazilian state oil company Petrobras to look for gas off its Black Sea coast.