Media reports indicate that the union cabinet would soon decide on clearing the Rs 37,230 crore refinery project at Barmer, Rajasthan.
It is learnt that the central government prepared a note for the cabinet on this project, which is promoted by the state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL).
HPCL proposed to set up a 9 million tonne per annum capacity refinery and it would go ahead with this once it gets approval from the union cabinet.
It may be recalled that the state government already offered the proposed refinery a financial package of Rs 56,000 crore spread over 15 years to make the proposed project in the desert financially viable.
The Rajasthan government has been pursuing the central government to have a refinery in the state after Cairn India discovered the country’s biggest on-land oilfield. It intensified its efforts since 2009 when the first oil was produced from the Barmer block.
The state government requested the prime minister to help in setting up a refinery in the state, which is said to be the only state which has oilfield but not oil-refinery.
The refinery project will be the second biggest project in Rajasthan after the Indira Gandhi canal. The state government plans to take up to 26 percent equity stake in HPCL-promoted refinery project.
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