India's buys Nigeria's oil refinery

[Richard Akindele]

An Essar Oil-led consortium of three companies is moving closer to acquiring a 51 pct stake in the Nigeria's Port Harcourt Refining Co, one of the four refineries slated for privatisation in that country, Business Standard reported, citing industry sources.

Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp is among the members of the Essar consortium, the newspaper said, adding that the deal could be worth around 300 mln usd.

Besides the Essar Oil-led consortium, three other parties -- Oando group of Nigeria and two consortia led by Transnational Corp and Refinee Petroplus -- are bidding for the Nigerian government's 51 pct stake in the refinery, the report said.