An evaluation of the centre's holding has already been done by a top merchant banker and it now remains to be seen if the price suggested for the scrip is acceptable. Both Indian Oil Corporation and Lubrizol have been in talks for a while now on various aspects of the imminent tieup. Sources said representatives of the American company were in India recently and thrashed out many crucial issues with only a few left to be ironed out.

Lubrizol India was incorporated in 1966 as a joint venture between the centre and Lubrizol Corporation. The company's manufacturing unit is situated at Turbhe in Navi Mumbai. It has another facility for producing extreme pressure additives at Taloja in Raigad district.

Lubrizol India develops,manufactures and markets additive systems for automotive and industrial lubricants and also makes other speciality chemicals for the petroleum industry. The company's paid up capital is around Rs 20 crore and as per the latest report of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, it reported an income of Rs 363.15 crore in 1997-98.

It was over two years ago when the centre agreed to exit from the joint venture and at that time the alternative candidate was the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Sources indicated that ONGC was keen on teaming up with Lubrizol Corporation, but there were far too many bureaucratic delays which saw the upstream major drop the proposal. It was at this juncture that Indian Oil Corporation entered the picture and even here it has been nearly a year since work started all over again with no guarantee now on how long the process will take.

Interestingly, there have been unconfirmed reports that the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation, Cochin Refineries and IBP were also beingconsidered potential partners though the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation emerged top favourite. The biggest obstacle at that point was the probable price of the government's shareholding and it was feared that Oil & Natural Gas Corporation would think twice if it was on the steeper side.

Even today, there are sceptics who believe that even after so much spadework has been done, there could be further delays if the issue on pricing of government equity is not resolved quickly. This is doubtlessly important. But, as observers reiterate, it is time for the centre to get out of ventures where there is no strategic interest. "In a field like lubricants, it makes sense for an oil PSU to participate, not the government," they add.

Lubrizol Corporation had, apparently, at one point indicated during the discussions with ONGC that if timely action was not taken, it would even consider shifting its manufacturing base to Singapore. There was also a fair deal of speculation that the company was eyeing China. But now itlooks as if India is on for a while and if things go according to plan, the new joint venture with IOC will take off next year.