No Plans to Float Refinery Complex in AP: IOC
Hyderabad   11-Apr-2014

Public sector major IndianOil (IOC) has ruled out the possibility of setting up a plant in the upcoming Petroleum, Chemical, Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) project along Visakhapatnam-Kakinada stretch.

The company, however, said its proposed LNG terminal project in Kakinada being set up as a consortium was in tact. He refused to disclose details of the project.

“We do not have any plans to set up a plant in the refinery complex (PCPIR). We may want to have presence in the West,” S S Bapat, Executive Director (Corporate Communications & Branding), IOC told Express.

The PCPIR project, spread over 640 sq km covering 97 villages in the two districts of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari, is conceived as the largest PCPIR projects in the country.

Few more PCPIRs were also proposed in states such as Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

Originally, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) came forward giving an in-principle nod to set up a greenfield refinery and petrochemical complex but the proposal is still in conception stage for want of technical and financial partners.

Later, infrastructure major GMR Group formed a consortium with state-run companies like HPCL and ONGC, but even that proposal is yet to materialise.

According to a recent survey done by Larsen and Toubro, the projected investment for the PCPIR project could go up to Rs 3.6 lakh crore and employment generation could touch 12 lakh.

Initially, the projected investment was pegged at `1 lakh crore with job creation of over 90,000.

Meanwhile, IOC said it had set up a vapour recovery system at its terminal in Chittoor, a first in the country. A vapour recovery system recovers vapours of gasoline or other fuels, so that they do not escape into the atmosphere. This in turn reduces noxious and potentially explosive fumes and pollution.

“From now on, every new terminal of IOC anywhere in the country will have a vapour recovery system and gradually we will upgrade this in existing terminals,” Bapat said.