The plan to set up the 60 million tonne refinery-cum-petrochemical project at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra is expected to be delayed by three years following a land acquisition issue.
The Maharashtra government has put a stay on the process of land acquisition. No land acquisition is underway at the site and the state government has also not issued any direction for land acquisition to the Indian Oil Corporation, the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation for the proposed project.
With this, the plan to set up the world’s largest refinery is expected to get delayed, with commissioning of the project to take place by 2025 instead of the initial plan of 2022.
Based on the revised plan, the land acquisition will be completed by 2019-end and a final investment decision will be in place by January 2020.
The project will see an investment to the tune of Rs three trillion. Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have formed a joint venture with Indian consortium consisting of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to hold 50 percent stake in Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals (RRPCL).
Global consulting firm Jacobs has already started working on the configuration of the refinery, which is expected to be 30 percent for petrochemicals.
Saudi Aramco is expected to supply about 50 percent of the crude for the project, along with technology. The refinery is expected to process 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day and produce around 18 million tonne of petrochemical products annually.
