Nagarjuna Oil Corporation's six-million-tonne-a-year refinery is to be commissioned by the year-end, according to the Tamil Nadu Industries Minister, Mr S.P. Velumani.

Addressing the Assembly, the Minister said the Rs 7,160-crore unit in Thiruchopuram, Cuddalore district, will be commissioned in December.

Additional investments of over Rs 2,500 crore are being made in infrastructure facilities such as a captive port, tankages and power plants by Nagarjuna Oil's associate companies.

NOCL has also started the preliminary engineering work to expand the refinery to 15 million tonnes with an additional investment of Rs 12,000 crore.

The expansion will be in place by 2015.

This is also a key feature for the establishment of the proposed Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions planned by the State Governments. NOCL is the anchor industry for the PCPIR, which envisages creation of a 250-sq.km region in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam as a hub of petrochemical industries.

The investment regions have the potential to generate multi-million dollar investments in the sector. It envisages creation of physical infrastructure to support the investments.

The PCPIR in Tamil Nadu will be among the half dozen such proposals planned in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Karnataka.

According to the policy note tabled in the Assembly, the investment regions will be notified by the Government of India after approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

Major Projects

According to the policy note, the Rs 4,675-crore shipyard-cum-minor port complex in Tiruvallur District to the north of Chennai will also go on stream in December.

The joint venture between Tidco and L&T Shipbuilding Ltd will have facilities for the manufacture of cargo carriers, defence ships offshore platforms for oil and gas and heavy engineering facilities.

Phase-1 of project will be commissioned at a cost of Rs 3,375 crore by the year-end.

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