Unocal announces final departure from India
Unocal is closing down what little it has left in India.
Early this month, the California-based company, until recently the centre of a bitter takeover battle between CNOOC of China and ChevronTexaco, issued a notice in two local newspapers to announce the liquidation of its fully owned Indian subsidiary Unocal Bharat Services (Pvt) Ltd, in line with regulations laid down by the Registrar of Companies and the Reserve Bank of India. Unocal Bharat was set up with great expectations on 20th July 1998 to facilitate gas imports from Bangladesh but its primary role soon became that of a depository for several one-year MoUs with power, fertiliser and chemical companies on the route of its ill-fated project to bring gas to India from the Bibiyana gasfield in Bangladesh.
Faced with vociferous political opposition in Dhaka, Unocal made a policy decision last year to abandon gas imports from Bangladesh and significantly downsized its office in Delhi.