'Necklace' of terminals along India's coastline planned

"The next major stage of our growth is in the oil & gas logistics business," the company's chairman, K M Chandaria, told shareholders at its annual general meeting held at Vapi in Gujarat. The opportunities in the segment include transit storage and re-export of crude oil and petroleum products, bunkering business which entails refueling of ships with marine fuels, jet fuel logistics for the airline industry and non-fuel retailing in the autogas stations, he said.

Stating that India is on the radar of international oil trading companies, Chandaria cited the example of the trans-shipment and re-export of petroleum products business where lucrative opportunities await.

"These firms are interested to come into India, for transit storage of their crude oil and petroleum products. The product is then re-exported depending on their trading requirements...Aegis is negotiating to become a major partner in servicing their needs," he said. The oil price deregulation is also expected to have a positive impact on the company as more and more players enter the segment, he said.

Aegis, which had clocked a net profit of Rs 11.40 crore in FY 10, had announced a bonus issue recently under which shareholders were given two shares for every three shares held.