Vedanta group expresses interest in Rajasthan refinery project

[1]

Mining major Vedanta has expressed interest in participating in the proposed refinery project in Rajasthan for which state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior Cabinet ministers last week.

"While continuing his efforts for overall development of the state, including setting up of a refinery in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Gehlot on Friday evening met Prime Minister Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and discussed various development issues specially on Infrastructure development and social sector schemes with them," a State government release said here.

The State Chief Minister also held a meeting with Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal where the latter discussed the issue of the proposed refinery in Rajasthan and assured Gehlot that Vedanta would support the Refinery by having a small stake in the project.

"With a positive gesture, Agarwal expressed his interest in participation in this ambitious project and also discussed the additional oil production potential in Rajasthan," the release said.

They also discussed the need for continuing exploration to achieve the target of three lakh barrels of oil per day and beyond from Barmer.

"The Vedanta Group chairman also thanked the Chief Minister for state government's continuing support to exploration, development and development activities in Rajasthan and informed that Cairn India is producing 1.75 lakh barrel oil per day from Barmer," the release said.

In the meeting, Agarwal also informed that the company's efforts are to continue increasing oil production in Rajasthan and the State Chief Secretary has written a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas supporting both exploration and production sharing in the Barmer block.

Agarwal also praised the State government's efforts for establishing refinery in State and expressed his positive gesture on the fact that the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and the State government are progressing discussions on the refinery, the release said.

The Chief Minister assured full support of the government in achieving the target of 3 lakh barrels oil per day from Barmer.

However, Vedanta Group officials could not be reached for their comments on the issue. The Rajasthan Government said if the target of producing 3 lakh barrels per day is achieved, it would help in meeting almost 50 per cent of country's crude oil production.

Gehlot has held several meetings with senior leaders including Prime Minister, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Chidambaram, Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman for setting up the refinery in the state.