ONGC seeks approval for refinery in Kakinada

Amid reports of Oil and Natural Gas Corp dilly-dallying on setting up a refinery at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh has said the project has the Prime Minister's backing and will be implemented.
"The Prime Minister has said categorically that the ONGC refinery would come up at Kakinada," Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, said.

ONGC had in a pre-feasibility report found the size of 7.5 mm tons economically unviable and was now doing a techno-economic analysis of a 15 mm ton unit. Even on the enlarged capacity, it had sought fiscal incentives like exemption from local levies and free of cost land. Ramesh said Prime Minister had spoken to Andhra Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and told him "in no uncertain terms" that the refinery was coming up.
"The Prime Minister has also conveyed this to the Petroleum Ministry," he said.

Media reports had suggested that ONGC, which had proposed the project in 2005, was no longer keen as the country already had surplus in refining capacity and newer projects like Reliance Petroleum's 29 mm ton refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat will result in a glut of fuel supplies.
"It is our job to make it (the project) viable," he said commenting on the reports.