Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and its partners will decide by November on the project structure and funding of the proposed 14-15 million tonnes a year refinery-cum-petrochemical plant at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh.
The five-way alliance of HPCL, steel czar Lakshmi N Mittal, French energy giant Total, gas utility GAIL and Oil India Ltd are currently doing pre-feasibility study for the project that may cost at least $6 billion.
"We should have project structure and refinery configuration ready by end October or November to make the investment decision," a source in the joint venture said.
The joint venture will by November freeze cost of the refinery after the pre-feasibility study is completed and will then decide on the equity structure of the project.
"Most likely, it will be a 14-15 million tonnes export-oriented refinery. We are studying the demand for petrochemicals and their markets to decide if a naphtha-based petrochemical unit should be constructed along with the refinery," the source said.
The five companies have only signed an MoU and equity structure would be decided after the completion of pre-feasibility study.
The pre-feasibility report that is looking at demand in India and Asia and project economies, will be ready by end of third quarter of 2008 after which the steering committee of the five partners will meet to decide if the project is to be taken up, he said.
If the project goes through, this will be Mittal's second refinery venture in India after he picked 49 per cent stake in HPCL's greenfield refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab that is set for commissioning by early 2012.
