Centre clears Rajasthan Refinery Project, Joint Venture agreement signed with HPCL

A day after the Union Government gave approval to the Barmer Petroleum Refinery-cum-Petrochemical Complex on August 16, the state government, on Thursday, signed an agreement with the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) to set up a joint venture company for setting up the project. As per the agreement, HPCL will have 74% and the state government 26% partnership in the new firm called HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL). Total cost of this project is rupees 43,129 crore.

Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje witnessed the signing ceremony at CM residence when Principal Secretary Mines & Petroleum Smt. Aparna Arora and Director (Finance) of HPCL Shri J. Ramaswami signed the JV agreement respectively on behalf of the state government and the HPCL. The CM expressed satisfaction on the progress of the refinery. She directed the officials to proceed further on the project on equally fast pace as soon as the Environmental Clearance was received from the Union Ministry of Environment.

Smt. Raje said that after receiving all necessary clearances on slated deadlines, ground breaking ceremony would be solemnised for start of the actual work for the refinery. She said that after honest negotiations between the officials of the state government and the HPCL led to the significant savings of Rs. 40,000 crore. Also, the state would receive 12% Return On Investment instead of earlier 2% accepted in the previous MoU for the refinery.

The CM said that this would be the first petro refinery in the country to produce BS-VI emission standards. This would be a major step towards controlling carbon emissions and have substantial impact on environment. She directed the state government officials for skill training of local youth through ITIs and skill development centres to get them employment in refinery and ancillary industries. She further asked for exploring the possibilities of setting up a petroleum institute in the western Rajasthan.

As per the proposed plan, the refinery project would be established in a 4,813 acres of land area. Tender process for the boundary wall for this has been initiated. The entire construction work of this project would be finished in record time of four years. Interestingly, 270 MW power would be generated from the waste petcoke generated from the refinery. A green zone would be established in the refinery campus and a new industrial area would also be developed.

Smt. Raje said that this project of refining Rajasthan’s Crude oil to produce Petroleum and other petrochemical products would substantially strengthen the economy of not only Barmer, but entire Rajasthan. With this, she said, direct and indirect employment opportunities would be generated in huge numbers. She suggested the officials to make special efforts to promote local small entrepreneurs for setting up ancillary industries.

Water Resources Minister Dr. Ram Pratap, Minister of State for Mines & Petroleum Shri Surendra Pal Singh, Chief Secretary Shri Ashok Jain, CMD of HPCL Shri MK Surana, Additional Chief Secretary Mines & Petroleum Shri NC Goyal, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of other state government departments, Collector Barmer Shri NS Madan and senior officials of HPCL were also present during the agreement signing ceremony.

Jaipur, 17th August 2017