Have offered stake to Saudi Arabia in proposed Maharashtra refinery: Dharmendra Pradhan

Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said the government has approached Saudi

Arabia with a proposal to be a stakeholder in the mega oil refinery and petrochemicals project on the

west coast of Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 trillion.

“On my last visit to Saudi, I met Saudi officials with an offer of a stake in the proposed mega refinery

project in Maharashtra as a prospective partner. For this project we have already appointed Engineers

India as the PMC (project management consultants). We have also finalised the contours of the special

purpose vehicle that will carry out this large project,” said Pradhan on the sidelines of a road-show

organised by the Director General of Hydrocarbons for auctioning 46 discovered small fields to

prospective investors.

In December, Pradhan had announced a plan to set up a new refinery and petrochemicals complex in

Maharashtra. At that time he had asked the three state-run oil refiners — IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) — to get ready to set up the

largest refining and petrochemicals complex before 2017-end in coastal Maharashtra. Currently, there

are two refineries of BPCL and HPCL in Mumbai.

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Pradhan said work on the 60-million tonne project will begin once the Maharashtra government

identifies and acquires the land. The state will also be an equity partner in the project apart from the

three oil refiners. The minister, however, said the details of the equity ownership is yet to be worked

out.

Pradhan on Monday also launched the first road-show for the auction of 46 small discovered oil and gas

fields, assuring investors of a transparent regime and greater ease of doing business.

These blocks were originally discovered by ONGC and Oil India Ltd, but could not be developed due to

various reasons. The 67 blocks on offer are present in 46 contract areas with 625 million barrels of oil

and oil equivalent gas of in-place reserves spread over 1,500 square kilometers in on-land, shallow

water and deepwater areas.

“Given India’s nearly 78 per cent dependence on energy imports, I strongly believe that all quantities of

hydrocarbon — big or small — are crucial for the country. And therefore, we feel that this new bid

round is a timely step in the right direction” said Pradhan. The auction for these blocks will be conducted

on simpler contractual terms together with pricing and marketing freedom. This will be the first licensing

round in over four years. E-bidding for the blocks will start on July 15 and close on October 31. Bids will

be finalised by mid-November and contracts signed by January, Pradhan said.

NGS INDIA