The Hindu Business Line : Kuwait Petro in talks with RIL, IOC for refinery, petrochem projects here

Looking for tie-ups: The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Mr Saad Al-Shuwaib, calling on the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, in the Capital on Thursday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec. 6

Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) is in talks with Indian private and public sector undertakings to build large-scale refinery and petrochemicals projects in the country.

The company is in talks with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and others, including state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) for the proposed projects.

“We would like to have something in India. We are looking for something either with Reliance or any other company,” Mr Saad Al-Shuwaib, Chief Executive Officer, KPC, told newspersons after meeting the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, here on Thursday.

He categorically stated that KPC was not looking to buy stakes in existing refineries. “It could be greenfield or joint acquisition,” he said.

“We are looking for an integrated investment in refineries and petrochemicals. KPC was also looking for investment opportunities elsewhere in Asia,” he added.

Target Capacity

KPC held talks with RIL on Wednesday, and met the IOC board on Thursday. While the capacity of a large-scale refinery could be between 1,50,000 and 4,00,000 barrels per day, the large-scale petrochemical plant could be between 8,00,000 and one million tonnes per annum.

Indications are that KPC may be interested in IOC’s proposed 3,00,000 barrels per day refinery at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. The projects in India would be fed with Kuwaiti crude, he said.

Kuwait currently supplies around 2,50,000 bbl per day of crude to India on annual term-contracts and is keen to raise it.

“We would like to supply it with Kuwaiti oil. That is the main investment target for us,” Mr Al-Shuwaib said. The company plans to export fuels and chemicals from the proposed plants in India.

Export unit

Mr Al-Shuwaib did not see India’s excess refining capacity as a deterrent to the company’s plans and felt the export-oriented unit would be very much viable.

“We always said we wanted to invest in refineries in Asia and India is one of the strategic places for us,” he said. While the refining capacity in India was 149.8 million tonnes, the domestic demand for petroleum products stood at 119.84 mt.

On whether KPC was interested in partnering more than one company in the proposed venture, he said, “we prefer to be with one, or in special circumstances, two.”

Paradip withdrawal

KPC’s Managing Director (International Marketing), Mr Abdullatif A. Al-Houti, said the company withdrew from IOC’s 1,50,000 barrels per day Paradip project, as it was interested only in an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex.

However, now IOC has changed the configuration of the project to include a petrochemical plant and doubling capacity. “We are looking into that,” he said.