HPCL's Bhatinda refinery to be on stream by 2010

London-based Indian industrialist Lakshmi Niwas Mittal will invest US$725 million for a 49% stake in an oil refinery which is being built by state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd, it was announced on February 20. The deal, which was earlier reported to be worth Rs32 billion (US$728 million), was subsequently raised to Rs33 billion (US$748 million).”The refinery will come at Bhatinda in Punjab with a capacity of 180,000 barrels a day. It is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2010,” Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said. As per the broad pact reached by the two sides, the refinery will be set up in the name of a new company, the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Ltd. Oil India Ltd. (OIL), another state-run enterprise, may join as an investor at a later date. London-based BP earlier withdrew from HPCL’s refinery project due to concerns regarding the Indian government’s current oil price controls. (February 21, 2007)