HYDERABAD: Will Amerind Petroleum Private Limited’s proposed Rs 12,000-crore petroleum refinery come up near Visakhapatnam at all?This doubt crept into the minds of state government officials when US Exim Bank chairman and president Fred Hochberg said after meeting chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Friday that the bank had only issued a letter of intent (LoI) to the AIC, a joint technical partner in the consortium, to extend financial support and that it had not approved the project yet. “It is better not to discuss the project that has not yet been approved. Issuing LoI does not mean that the bank has granted the loan. Granting of loan will be subject to the party having sufficient equity and meeting other requirements,” he explained, but did not say anything about whether Amerind would be able to meet the criteria. Hochberg was on a tour of South India and after, visiting Chennai and Bengaluru, reached here.Amerind Petroleum Private Limited, in a joint technical collaboration with American Industrial Corporation (AIC) of the US, proposed to set up a petroleum refinery with an initial capacity to refine 7.50 million tonnes of crude oil per year (1.50 lakh barrels a day). The refinery is to come up in the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) near Visakhapatnam.Major industries minister J Geetha Reddy, who was to address the joint press briefing with Hochberg, did not turn up but told Express later that before the state government signed the MoU, it had a due deligence study done and contacted the US Exim Bank which said it had issued LOI.“Even if Amerind does not get the loan and backs out, no harm will be done to Andhra Pradesh since the government’s investment is zero. As per the agreement, Amerind will have to acquire land on its own and the state government will only play the role of a facilitator,” she said, adding: “Till such time the company actually backs out, we consider the project as an active one. There is nothing that the state has to pursue in this case. Amerind has to mobilise money and invest in the state and it is for the company how it will pursue its loan application with the US Exim Bank, she said..Amerind Petroleum was promoted by Syed Badruddin, who hails from an aristocratic family of Hyderabad and a successful technocrat entrepreneur with 36 years of experience in the manufacturing sector in Andhra Pradesh.He is the chief promoter and chairman of the company and the project is proposed to be set up with financial assistance from the US Exim Bank.
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