New Delhi: World’s largest steelmaker Lakshmi N Mittal is planning to invest in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd’s (HPCL) Bhatinda refinery.
The NRI steel tycoon may partner HPCL in the state-run firm's under-construction $3 billion refinery in Punjab.
HPCL and Mittal Investments may jointly hold 49 per cent stake each in the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Ltd, the company implementing the project, as per the broad understanding reached between the two firms during preliminary talks. The remaining 2 per cent stake would be offered to financial institutions.
Mittal Investments is wholly owned by the Mittal family and is registered in Luxembourg.
There is likelihood that the state-run exploration firm Oil India Ltd (OIL) may also take part in the refinery project.
Mittal is the latest of a series of joint venture partners HPCL has had for the Bhatinda refinery. BP Plc of UK walked out of the project in March this year. Earlier, Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia had exited the project in 1998.
HPCL-Mittal combine would also lay a 1,100-km crude oil pipeline from Mundra part in Gujarat to Bhatinda and build a crude oil terminal and associated facilities at an estimated cost of 600-million dollars.
The approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) are prerequisites to the fortification of the joint venture as both the companies would invest over Rs 1,000 crore.
HPCL has already invested about Rs 500 crore in the Bhatinda project.
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