Barmer refinery under consideration: Govt

New Delhi, Mar 18 (UNI) The government today informed the Rajya Sabha that the proposal for setting up a refinery at Barmer in Rajasthan is under the consideration of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)/Mangalore Refinery and Petro-chemicals Ltd (MRPL), an arm of ONGC.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said ONGC/MRPL has reported that the economic viability of this high investment requires fiscal incentives and other required fiscal incentives and support for the viability of huge investment in the well-head refinery project.

Currently, ONGC and Rajasthan government are in a process of discussion regarding fiscal incentives to be extended by Rajasthan government to make the refinery investment viable, he said.

Pending decision on viability of the refinery, it is imperative that the crude is produced during the intervening period so that there is no delay in production of crude oil and in payment of statutory levies and profit oil, Mr Patel said.

In view of this, the Minister said, the government has agreed in principle for grant of RoU to the consortium of ONGC and Cairn Energy for laying a pipeline for evacuation of crude oil from the RJ-ON-90/1 contract area in Barmer to Salaya, Gujarat.

UNI RT SBA RK1831