Infrastructure major GMR is considering roping in a partner to take its petroleum refinery project forward.
The refinery, which the group has been working on for some time now, will have a capacity of around 15 million tonne per annum and is expected to cost Rs30,000 crore.
The project would be implemented under the aegis of GMR Holdings and would seek incentives and other infrastructure support from the state government.
“We are going to set up the project near Kakinada. It would be a greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical project. The project would get commissioned in about five years and we will rope in a strategic partner for the project,” said C G Kishore, CEO of GMR SEZ.
GMR group on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government for setting up the project during the ongoing Partnership Summit 2012 in Hyderabad.
“We are yet to work out the finer details of the project,” Kishore said to queries on the extent of holding to be divested in favour of the partner and the fundraising plans for the project.
GMR took a plunge into the project in June 2008, after state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and its subsidiary, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals, decided not to join the proposed refinery and SEZ project at Kakinada SEZ. IL&FS and Kakinada Sea Port together hold 46% and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation the remaining 3% stake in the project.
Interestingly, ONGC is said to have exited the project after finding it unviable, whereas GMR decided to enter the project based on the report of an international consultant appointed by it to ensure it was viable.
GMR Infra has signed another MoU with the Andhra government for setting up an industrial township spread over 10,500 acres. The project, estimated to cost about Rs3,000 crore, is also likely to house an SEZ.
Company officials said it was too early to talk about the finer project details “since the MoU has been signed just now.”
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