IOC, the country’s top refiner, had shut the CDU and some other secondary units at the 300,000-bpd refinery in the northern state of Haryana for about a month from mid-February for routine maintenance.

While IOC has called a board meeting on March 19 to consider paying a second interim dividend, ONGC has declined saying it does not have surplus cash to make such payments within a month of an interim dividend payout, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.

IOC won city gas distribution licences for nine cities, most of them in Bihar and Jharkhand, on its own and one in a joint venture with Adani Gas, according to a press statement issued by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).

This is the first time any Indian refiner has signed an annual contract since the country in 2017 began importing crude oil from the US.

State-run IOC had previously purchased U.S. oil from spot markets and signed a mini-term deal in August to buy 6 million barrels of U.S. oil between November to January.

The state-owned company is seeking a partial cargo for delivery on Feb 25, with offers due by Feb 11, one of the sources said.

For the marketing division investment, R Sitharthan, executive director and head for IndianOil (Tamil Nadu & Puducherry), signed an MoU with the state government for an investment of `7,941 crore in the next five years.

IOC is already in market to raise USD 900 million through a bonds issue and is raising an equivalent sum through a syndicated loan for meeting its working capital requirements.

The nation’s consumption of petroleum products rose 4.1 percent to about 210 million tons, the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell said Friday. Growth improved from the preceding year’s 2.7 percent expansion, the slowest pace since 2013, as consumption was severely affected by a cash ban that crippled economic activity.