Engineers India Ltd expects more orders from Middle East - chairperson

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - State-run Engineers India Ltd (EIL) expects to get more orders from the Middle East, where the focus is on maximising oil production, the company's chairperson said on Friday.

"There is an upside to increasing production before energy transition kicks in and we want to capture that opportunity, and that opportunity is in the Middle East so therefore we are consolidating there," EIL Charperson Vartika Shukla told reporters at an earnings conference.

EIL has raised its staff strength from 23 to 84 at its Abu Dhabi office to cater to the region, Shukla said.

The company, which was previously focused on oil and gas infrastructure, is expanding into other businesses as well, such as hydrogen, carbon capture, biofuels, fertilisers and steel.

The share of international business in the new orders received so far in this fiscal year is 30%, compared with about 15% in 2022/23, Shukla added.

EIL's current order book was at 90.79 billion Indian rupees ($1.10 billion), including projects for which an initial "go ahead" has been given by companies.

The engineering firm is executing projects for companies including Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Indian Oil Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals.

EIL is building a refinery in Mongolia and a urea project in Africa. It has also built the recently commissioned Dangote refinery in Nigeria.

($1 = 82.6171 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)