The Hindu Business Line : ONGC Mangalore project hangs in balance

"The project proposal is now with the Prime Minister's Office," the ONGC Chairman, Mr Subir Raha, told newspersons here on Saturday. He said that, on May 18, the Chief Secretary of Karnataka, the Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and he were invited to a meeting at the PMO to discuss the project.

Mr Raha was in the city in connection with the annual conference of the National Institute of Personnel Management.

"Various developments are taking place in the PMO and I will not make any further comment on the issue," the ONGC Chairman said.

Asked whether the Karnataka Government still stood by its MoU with ONGC, which was later considered by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry to have been signed on behalf of all oil PSUs, Mr Raha did not comment.

In August 2004, ONGC entered into an MoU with the Karnataka Government proposing an investment of Rs 25,000 crore for setting up a SEZ complex at Mangalore with investments in LNG imports, its shipping and transportation, an LNG jetty coupled with a regassification plant, C-2/C-3 extraction plant, a 1,445-mw power plant and a basic petrochemical complex, including a dual feed cracker and associated facilities.

The investment proposal reportedly came in for criticism by the Ministry, which felt that ONGC was exposing itself too much in non-core areas. It said the company should be allowed to take up only the petrochem project through MRPL.

Roadmap for petrochem project

ONGC has finalised the roadmap for the petrochemicals project in the Dahej Special Economic Zone.

The SEZ is jointly promoted by ONGC and the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation.

The total petrochem complex will require an investment of Rs 15,000 crore and will be commissioned in four to five years. As part of the complex, ONGC has made substantial progress towards setting up a C2/C3 extraction plant.

The detailed feasibility report for the core petrochem project will be commissioned shortly.

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