GUWAHATI, Oct 15 ? Oil India Limited (OIL) has paid final dividend of Rs 168 crore to the Government of India for the year 2003-04, a press release stated. R K Dutta, Chairman and Managing Director of OIL handed over a cheque of the said amount to Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Mani Shankar Aiyar, in the presence of senior government officials and directors of the company.
The board of directors had declared final dividend of 80 per cent on the paid up capital of OIL for 2003-04. The total dividend paid by OIL for 2003-04 is 140 per cent as against 130 per cent dividend paid last year. OIL has paid Rs 294 crore as total dividend to the Government of India for the year 2003-04.
OIL is taking a number of new strategic initiatives including installation of product pipeline for evacuation of products from NRL, vertical integration through increase in stake in NRL, acquisition of properties overseas in consortium with other petroleum companies, acquisition of prospective exploration blocks under NELP, restructuring to facilitate faster growth of the organisation etc.
The company?s overall physical and financial performance is expected to be an improvement over that of last year with both crude oil and gas production increasing by 8-10 per cent, the release added.