Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd's refinery in Cuddalore with the March 1 deadline fast approaching, nearly 6,000 labourers, mostly from north India, are working round the clock to ensure the refinery starts on time.

Five months from now, the refinery hopes to commission the crude distribution and vacuum distribution units.

Mr Ramasundaram MD and CEO of the company said that the refinery, which is being built over 1,600 acres, located 155 km south of Chennai, between Cuddalore and Chidambaram, is the largest private sector investment in Tamil Nadu, with INR 10,000 crore being invested in the project. It is vital for the State to become self-sufficient in petroleum products such as automobile fuel, LPG and bitumen.

He said that with half of the State's petroleum requirement coming from refineries located in other States, the retail price of petroleum products is higher due to additional transport costs, he said.

In the first phase, the company will refine 6 million tonnes of crude petroleum a year. In the initial stage, crude will be imported from Nigeria and in the later stage from West Asia.

Mr Ramasundaram said that “We are on target to commission the first phase. It has been a long wait for all of us.” The project was planned in July 2001 but work started in 2006 after getting all the clearances.”

The second phase of adding a refining capacity of 9 million tonnes is likely to be taken up in 2014 after the first phase of operations stabilises. This will cost nearly INR 18,000 crore.

(Sourced from BL)