"The Planning Commission is weighing three options on the merger of oil public sector undertakings," plan panel member Kirit S Parikh said on the sidelines of IRADe-IIEF conclave in New Delhi on Thursday.
One of the options was to amalgamate all six PSUs into one company but that would create a situation where there would be a monopoly in the oil sector and private companies would not be able to compete with the merged PSU entity, he said.
The second option was to continue with the existing structure, whose drawback was that "all oil PSUs have become cash rich not because of their efficiency but because of their price mechanism and they are investing in similar areas," Parikh said.
The third option was to create two PSUs out of six oil PSUs, but they would not be able to compete with global oil companies.
However, he said, small companies were also bidding for refinery areas and with good financial back-up, it would not be a bad option.
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