Mittal, Total, GAIL team up with HPCL for $6-bn plant

New Delhi: Steel czar Lakshmi N Mittal, French oil giant Total and gas utility GAIL India have teamed up with Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd for setting up a USD 6 billion refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at Visakhapatnam.

The five-way partnership for the 15 million tons a year refinery and one-million tons Olefins and Aromatics complex will also feature state explorer Oil India Ltd.

'We have on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for undertaking feasibility study of the mega complex,' HPCL chairman and managing director Arun Balakrishnan told reporters here.

Having already picked 49 per cent stake in HPCL's USD 3.6 billion Bhatinda refinery, this would be Mittal's maiden foray into petrochemicals.

Total will take the lead in conducting the feasibility study for the refinery project while GAIL would take charge of the study of the petrochemical unit.

Balakrishnan said the exact equity structure and project finances would be decided only after the feasibility studies are completed.

GAIL Chairman and Managing Director U D Choubey said petrochemical business for the company ranks second in the order of priority after gas. 'We felt there is a need for a mega petrochemical plant in the south to meet the demand in the region.'

Arcelor-Mittal executive vice president Sudhir Maheshwari said Mittals are keen on rapidly expanding in both oil and gas exploration as well as downstream refining and petrochemical business.