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Norway's Aker Kverner raises stake in Indian JV(Ecomonic Times, The (India) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 17--MUMBAI, India -- Aker Kverner, the Norway-based engineering design major, has increased its holding in its Indian joint venture Kverner Powergas India (KPIL) by 15 percent, taking its holding in the Indian firm to 64 percent. Kverner Powergas was a 49:51 JV (before the stake increase) between Aker Kverner and Indian directors of KPIL. Kvaerner Powergas India CMD S Rama Iyer said: "KPIL is focusing on upstream and downstream oil and gas projects in India in a big way and Aker Kverner is specialised in oil and gas projects. It makes sense to Aker to increase its holding in its Indian subsidiary." The company, which has traditionally focused more on petrochemicals, copper smelters, and international projects has completed engineering, procurement and construction work on Reliance gas fields on the eastern offshore, which have proven reserves of seven trillion cubic feet. Kvaerner has also bid for developing projects on the western offshore. KPGIL was part of Powergas, which started operations in India in 1959. The company's operations were spun-off into Davy Powergas India with Davy Corp, UK, as its holding company, in 1975. In 1991, Davy Corp was acquired by Trafalgar House, which in turn was acquired by Kvaerner ASA in 1991. After Kvaerner's acquisition, the company was renamed as Kvaerner Powergas India. Kverner Powergas has also partnered with the parent group Aker Kvaerner in bidding for deepwater projects in various parts of world. "There in an increased emphasis on the oil and gas business and we expect over 50 percent of our turnover from this sector this year," said Mr Iyer. Kvaerner Powergas provides expertise in transporting oil and gas from the offshore deepwater fields to onshore, from where other majors such as GAIL India move the product to the interior through pipelines. This includes the entire field development -- from front-end studies through detailed design and engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, hook-up and commissioning. The company has built plants for RIL, the Birla Group, Hindustan Lever, Indo Rama and BPCL among others. |