Hindustan Petroleum shelves refinery plans in Andhra Pradesh, to proceed with proposed petrochemical unit

11-Aug-15

Hindustan Petroleum Corp has shelved a plan to build a refinery in Andhra Pradesh, although it will go ahead with a proposed petrochemical unit, as per Economictimes.com. State-run HPCL will build the petrochemical plant in partnership with GAIL Ltd. The two companies had discussed the possibility of setting up a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex for years, but the inability to find foreign partners to fund the project has kept the plan from taking off "We will just do the petrochemical plant," said Nishi Vasudeva, chairman and managing director of HPCL, adding that the company's refinery at Visakhapatnam is being almost doubled, obviating the need to add capacity in the state at present The two companies have evaluated the prospects of setting up a refinery-cum-petrochemical complex costing Rs 85,000-95,000 crores, and only petrochemical unit for about Rs 35,000 crores. Due to the huge investment required and a glut in the country's oil refining capacity, the companies have been wary of adding capacity. Their search for a foreign partner is still on and talks with potential partners are being held