State-run Oil India Ltd, which got listed on the bourses on Wednesday, is looking at acquisition of assets or companies in Australia, South-East Asia, Africa, Russia and Latin America.
"We are actively looking at acquiring producing assets or going for corporate takeover of a company which has producing assets of our kind of appetite. We are looking at assets which have 10,000-20,000 barrels of oil per day production capacity," OIL chairman and managing director N M Borah told reporters.
"Some of the geographies that we are looking at are South-East Asia, Australia, Africa, Russia and South America," Borah said.
The company currently holds cash reserves of $1.5 billion and has a capex plan of Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion) over the next two years.
"We will be spending 60 per cent of our capex on exploration and appraisal activities," Borah said.
OIL has oil blocks in seven other countries. Borah said drilling of exploratory wells at its Libya block could start by November.
OIL produces 3.5 million tonnes of oil per year. The company is investing in purchasing capital equipment and carrying out IOR/EOR techniques (Improved Oil Recovery and Enhanced Oil Recovery) techniques to raise crude and natural gas output from its existing field.
