"Very soon, work will start on the Rajasthan refinery project. We have finalised the financial assessment," he said at the Global Natural Resources Conclave here.
Later talking to reporters, he said fiscal incentives for the project have been revised and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is likely to be signed in Jaipur later this month.
"The fiscal package negotiated by the previous (Congress) government had put a big burden on Rajasthan. Now, that has been balanced," he said.
"Work on the project will start very soon," he added.
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The project, which has been in the works for nearly five years now, is projected to cost Rs 41,000-42,000 crore, up from the previous estimate of Rs 37,320 crore.
HPCL, in March 2013, had signed an MoU with the Rajasthan government for setting up the refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in the Thar desert near the oil discoveries made by Cairn India. But the refinery never took off as a change of guard in the state led to the Rajasthan government putting on hold the fiscal incentives for the project.
Engineers India Ltd (EIL) is doing a feasibility study.
The HPCL board, in March 2013, had approved setting up of the complex at a cost of Rs 37,320 crore. Half of the crude oil requirement at the proposed refinery at Barmer was to come from the neighbouring oil fields of Cairn India. The rest was to be imported crude.
At that point, HPCL had asked the state government to extend fiscal benefits like the ones extended by Gujarat and Odisha to new refinery projects to make the Barmer unit viable.
Originally, the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which owns 30 per cent interest in the Barmer oil fields of Cairn India, in 2005 had committed to building the refinery, but later started soft-pedalling the project. In 2012, HPCL entered the fray and proposed to take 51 per cent stake in the same.
ONGC, which originally had the authorisation from the government for processing the Barmer crude at the proposed refinery, willingly made way for HPCL.
For HPCL, which has only two refineries in Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, the project will help meet fuel demand in the north.
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