Fact check: No, IOC has not been sold to Adani Gas
An image showing the Billboard of a petrol pump with the claim that Indian Oil Corporation is being sold out to Adani Gas.
By Satya Priya BN Published on 18 Feb 2021 10:00 AM GMT
An image showing the Billboard of a petrol pump is being shared on social media with the claim that Indian Oil Corporation is being sold out to Adani Gas.
Users claim that the pump stations have been rechristened as Indian Oil – Adani Gas in the country.
Few users shared the image with the caption "Andhbhakt dekh lo Indian oil bik Gaya Panipat Haryana main hai aur 2014 se pahle nahin tha "
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Fact Check:
The claim that IOC has been sold to Adani is FALSE.
When observed keenly, we found the letters IOAG along with the name 'Indian Oil-Adani Gas' in the viral image. When searched for IOAG as keywords we found several articles stating that Indian Oil Corporation and Adani Gas started a joint venture running several City Gas Distribution projects in various cities of the country.
According to a report published in 2019 in the Economic Times.com, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), and its partner Adani Gas Ltd will invest about Rs 9,600 crore in rolling out infrastructure for retailing CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to household kitchens in 10 cities for which they recently won licenses for, the state-owned firm. The two firms in 2013 had incorporated a 50:50 joint venture company, IndianOil-Adani Gas Pvt Ltd (IOAGPL), for implementation of city gas distribution (CGD) projects in various cities in the country.
Over the years, IOAGPL participated in various bid rounds for city gas license conducted by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).
City gas distribution (CGD) projects, which entail retailing CNG to automobiles and marketing piped natural gas to household kitchens for cooking as well as to industries for use as fuel is typically long-duration projects wherein demand build-up is gradual and revenue generation becomes appreciable only in the later years.
Adani Gas is operating currently the CGD network in 4 locations i.e. Ahmedabad, Baroda, Faridabad, and Khurja. Its joint venture with IOCL is currently running CGD networks at Prayagraj, Chandigarh, Panipat, Udham Singh Nagar, Daman, Dharwad, Ernakulam, South Goa, and Bulandshahr. With Government of India planning to offer additional geographical areas for gas distribution in the Xth round involving 50 GAs comprising of 123 districts coupled with rapid urbanization, AGL is on track to become one of the largest private sectors CGD companies of the world.
https://www.business-standard.
According to ioagpl.com, IndianOil-Adani Gas Pvt. Ltd. (IOAGPL) is a joint venture company of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) – a Maharatna Company of Government of India and Adani Gas Ltd. (AGL), a leading city gas distribution company and part of Adani Group – a well-diversified business Group in the private sector engaged in infrastructure development.
IOAGPL has been formed to implement City Gas Distribution projects across the country for distribution of environment-friendly fuel (Natural Gas) through a network of underground pipelines.
IOAGPL has been awarded the "Authorisation" by the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) for implementation of City Gas Distribution Project for Districts of Ernakulam (Kerala), Chandigarh (UT), Prayagraj (UP), Daman (UT), Udhamsingh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Dharwad- Hubli (Karnataka), Panipat (Haryana), South Goa (Goa), Bulandshahr (UP). Gaya & Nalanda (Bihar), Panchkula (Haryana), Kozhikode & Wayanad (Kerala), Malappuram (Kerala), Kannur-Kasaragodu-Mahé (Kerala), Palakkad-Thrissur (Kerala), Bulandshahr-Aligarh (UP), Prayagraj- Bhadohi -Kausambi (UP), Burdwan (West Bengal) and Jaunpur (UP). All these projects are under execution and are progressing well.
IOAGPL aims to become the largest and preferred natural gas distribution company in the country.
https://www.ioagpl.com/about/
We also found a media release on the website adanigas.com stating that Adani Gas Ltd. (AGL), the city gas distribution arm of the Adani Group has bagged authorization from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, Government of India to expand its city gas footprint in 13 new Geographical Areas (GAs) in the recently concluded 9th round of CGD bidding. In addition, the company has also won 9 GAs in its joint venture company with Indian Oil Corporation, i.e. Indian Oil - Adani Gas Ltd. (IOAGPL).
Therefore, the claim that IOC is sold to Adani Gas is FALSE.
