Monetisation of IOCL, HPCL & GAIL pipelines loses steam

Due to a lack of investor interest and the reluctance of the companies to part stake, reportedly as per executives and investment bankers, the plan to monetise the oil and gas pipeline assets of IOCL, GAIL and Hindustan Petroleum has lost steam. 

The monetisation of oil and gas pipeline assets had been announced by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the Budget 2021. 

Following the announcement, the oil companies had drafted a blueprint to monetise stakes in their pipeline networks through infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) which were to house pipelines of 5,000 km with the companies possibly offloading 26-49 per cent of their stakes in these projects.

InvITs act as investment vehicles for infrastructure projects of companies allowing investors to make small investments and receive regular income. These are considered as stable cash-generation assets and an attribute foreign pension funds look for.