Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

HPCL reviewing plan to build new refinery

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd is reviewing its plans to build a 180,000-bpd refinery at Bhatinda in the northern state of Punjab, India's junior oil minister, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, said on Thursday.

However, Indian Oil Corp was going ahead with plans to double the capacity of its Panipat refinery to 240,000 bpd by the first quarter of 2005, Gangwar told Parliament.

HPCL had planned to build the refinery expecting a surge in oil demand during India's Tenth Five-year Plan, which runs from 2002 to 2007.

But oil product sales have declined in the last two years and officials say demand is not expected to rise significantly in the near future, raising doubts about the viability of HPCL's proposed refinery.

"A revised detailed feasibility report is being prepared considering the demand-supply scenario during the Tenth Plan period, which may affect the capacity requirement and configuration of the refinery," Gangwar said.

"No decision has been taken in this regard as yet," he said, replying to a lawmaker who asked if the state-run refiner planned to reduce the capacity of the proposed refinery.

India has 17 refineries with a capacity to process 2.3 million bpd.

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines