Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Mar 15, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Mar 15, 2005 |
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Industry & Economy
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Petroleum Aiyar rules out shifting of HPCL refinery from Punjab Our Bureau
Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar
New Delhi , March 14 THE Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, on Monday ruled out shifting Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's (HPCL) refinery from Bhatinda in Punjab to Rajasthan since more than Rs 300 crore had been spent on the project. Moreover, the Punjab Government had agreed to give fiscal concessions for the Rs 10,000-crore project, he added. ``If Rajasthan wants a refinery, it does not need to pinch it from Punjab. The refinery sector has been delicensed and the State can make a proposal for the refinery to public sector, private sector or multinational firms. It is not the Central Government but public and private sector enterprises who consider proposals for setting up refineries,'' he said. The Minister said that Cairn Energy's recent oil discoveries in Rajasthan were projected to produce about 2.5-3 million tonnes per annum of heavy crude oil, a quantity not feasible for setting up a new refinery. On the 2,600-km long Iran-India gas pipeline through Pakistan, he said India had enough safeguards against disruptions in supplies. Speaking at the sidelines of an interactive session with Forum of Financial Writers, the Petroleum Secretary, Mr S.C. Tripathi, said it would not be possible to keep up with the April 1 deadline to start use of cleaner burning auto fuels. The deadline set by the Government to improve air quality would not be met, as Indian refineries were unable to deliver the required volumes, due to technical constraints. There were attempts to make up the local shortfall through imports, but enough quantities of the so-called Euro-II fuels were not available in the Asian market, Mr Tripathi said. About oil imports in the current fiscal, the Secretary said, "We are expecting more than 30 per cent increase in the oil import bill this year." India's net oil import bill is likely to go to Rs 1-lakh crore in 2004-05 fiscal.
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