LN Mittal has extended his group's foray into oil exploration and refining with an entry into petrochemicals to widen his presence in the hydrocarbons value-chain. Luxembourg-based Mittal Investments Sarl, has signed an MoU for setting up an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex at Visakhapatnam, with Indian refiner-marketer Hindustan Petroleum, Indian gas utility major GAIL, Oil India Ltd and French major Total. Feasibility studies are being conducted for the project in which Total will take the lead. GAIL would be responsible for studying the petrochem unit's viability. About 2,500 acres near HPCL's existing 7.5 mln tpa refinery at Vizag has been acquired for the project.
The estimated project investment outlay will be US$6 bln for the plant that will have a capacity to process 15 mln tpa of crude a year and produce 1 mln tpa of petrochemicals. The exact equity structure and project finance will be finalized upon completion of feasibility studies.
This is Mittal's second venture with HPCL - the first one being a 49% partnership in HPCL's Bhatinda refinery. Mittal has also formed 2 JVs with ONGC for acquiring acreages and oil/gas transportation.
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