BPCL Board Clears Pre-Feasibility Studies For Greenfield Refinery In AP

Vijayawada: Putting an end to speculation on which State it has chosen, the board of Maharatna Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Tuesday approved to launch pre-feasibility activities for a greenfield refinery and petrochemical complex in Andhra Pra-desh at an estimated cost of Rs6,100 crore.

The trading window for dealing in BPCL securities was closed from December 21 to 26, Company Secretary V Kala informed in the filings done under Regulation 30 of SEBI (listing obligations & disclosure requirements),

Regulations, 2015.

"The pre-feasibility activities consist of various initial studies, land identification and acquisition, preparation of Detailed Feasibility Report, Environment Impact Assess-ment, basic engineering package, front end design," the company stated in the filing, which is a prerequisite for listed companies to inform the BSE & NSE.

BPCL is the second largest fuel retailer in India and has remained a Fortune 500 company.

The decision on final investment and location depends on the outcome of pre-feasibility studies. Earlier reports in a section of national media stated that the Centre has decided to relocate two mega refinery projects each with 10 to 15 million tonnes and integrated petrochemical complexes from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra to Andhra Pra-desh and Gujarat.

Unconfirmed reports told Bizz Buzz that while Saudi Arabia may collaborate for invest-ment in Gujarat, BPCL might come forward for investing in Andhra Pradesh following a strong pitch made by TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

As per AP Bifurcation Act, the Centre will support in establishing a refinery project in the State. The board decision was preceded by talks held by the top officials of BPCL with Naidu some time ago. After this, Industries Minister TG Bharat went on record, say-ing BPCL is likely to invest initially between Rs50,000 crore and Rs75,000 crore. He said that the investment may go up to Rs1 lakh in the next phase.

Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam and Mulapeta (Srikakulam) were offered by the State Government as probable project sites for locating the big ticket project after BPCL CMD G Krishna Kumar met Naidu at the Secretariat in July.

The three-party coalition leaders claim that once a 9 to 12 million tonnes refinery and petrochemical project is grounded it will generate at least 10,000 jobs and boost the economy.

The coalition has already offered 800 to 1,000 acres for the project if BPCL came forward with a formal proposal.