The Hindu Business Line : Total identifies 3 new projects for investments

Bangalore, Nov 21 The French oil major Total has identified three new projects for investments. The company, which recently aligned itself with a five-member consortia comprising Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Gas Authority of India Ltd, Oil India and Mittal Energy Investments of Arecelor-Mittal Group, to study the feasibility of setting up a greenfield refinery project near Visakhapatnam, was looking at India as a growth market.

Fresh investment plans

Mr Christian Chammas, Executive Vice-President, (Refining and Marketing), India, said Total was likely to announce its fresh investment plan by year-end. He, however, did not name the area of investment but said it would be joint ventures in oil-related business.

Crude the determinant

Mr Chammas said the volatility of crude price, threatening to touch $100 per barrel, was a key determinant for investment. However, with India’s huge demand held room for fresh investments. He said a pre-feasibility study, expected to be ready by March, would determine the steps for technical and investment parameters.

The consortia propose to set up a 15 million tonnes per annum plant.

On ongoing projects of Total, Mr Chammas said an underground cavern at the Vishakapatnam port capable of storing 60,000 tonnes will be commissioned by year end by Elf Gas India Ltd (EGIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Total. It is a joint venture with HPCL, he said.

EGIL would also be investing Rs 10 crore to install a storage and bottling facility in Bangalore next year, said Mr Paul Jewell, Managing Director of EGLIL.

The company has invested Rs 150 crore so far and had a one per cent market share of the 3.5 lakh tonnes of LPG marketed by private sector distributors.

Sold under Elf brand, EGIL’s focus market was commercial sector, with a small proportion being sold to domestic LPG market.