In an interview to The Financial Express, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Vazhapadhy K Ramamurthy categorically ruled out lowering Government equity in any national oil company to below 51 per cent.

Ramamurthy's statement comes amidst reports of a Shell-Saudi Aramco bid for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), a company in which the Centre barely retains the controlling stake of 51 per cent.

``We will not part with equity to any multinational,''he said, adding, ``To begin with, no such proposal has come to us yet.'' The former trade union leader, whose conservative views on subsidy and disinvestment are not a secret, did, however, make an exception of stand-alone refineries and engineering consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd (EIL).

The Centre has accepted the DisinvestmentCommission's recommendation to offer 30 per cent of its 56 per cent stake in EIL to a strategic partner.

The exercise will reduce the Government stake in the company to 26 per cent.

Ramamurthy said the Centre had to make an exception of EIL because it had problems peculiar to its area of business. ``The international practice is to offer turnkey projects,'' he said. According to him, EIL was too small to bid for such ventures on its own; hence the search for a strategic partner willing to buy 30 per cent of the company.

The petroleum minister is also known to have given his approval to most of the Nitish Sengupta panel recommendations, which favour the big fish among the national oil companies swallowing up the little ones for survival in the post-2002 free market. The committee has proposed that Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) buy out the entire government stake in Cochin Refineries Ltd (CRL) and stand-alone marketing company IBP Company.

Ramamurthy is known to have approved the proposal,along with the committee's suggestion that the Government stake in Madras Refineries Ltd be offered to mega corporation Indian Oil Corporation. A Cabinet note, now in circulation in other ministries, also speaks of Indian Oil taking over the Bongaigaon Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd (BRPL).

The proposals reportedly ran aground at the finance ministry, which is in favour of putting the petroleum companies on the block for a global bidding. The petroleum ministry is known to be averse to a global bid for Government stock in oil companies.

Ramamurthy summed up the Government stand succinctly. "You hear all these economists from Cambridge and Oxford talking of strategic sales of Government shares," he said. "We are not bothered about sales, we are only interested in looking for strategic partners for our companies."