State-run oil firms spend 40% of capital expenditure target by October

Fail to meet govt directive to spend 50%, but experts say trend encouraging

State-run oil companies could be on course to meet their annual capital expenditure target despite facing the hurdles of Covid-19 and extended monsoons. Publicly available data suggests investments made have crossed 40 per cent of planned expenditure.

“As of mid-November, we have already met 45 per cent of the total planned capital expenditure for the year,” said MK Surana, chairman and managing director for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).

Data sourced from the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) suggests state-run firms spent a combined Rs 39,877 crore in the April-October 2020 period, which is 40 per cent of the full year’s target