Environment Ministry panel gives nod for CPCL's Rs 33k-crore refinery in Tamil Nadu

A committee under the Ministry of Environment has accorded 'green signal' for Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd to set up a nine million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) Cauvery Basin Refinery in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu at an outlay of nearly Rs 33,000 crore.

The CPCL is in the process of setting up a refinery and a public hearing on the project was conducted by the District Collector of Nagapattinam on September 20, 2019 at a CPCL township near the existing MMTPA refinery in Panangudi village, minutes of the meeting of Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) held on August 20, said.

The proposed refinery will provide direct employment to 600 people and indirect employment to 1000 during the operation phase of the refinery, it said.

"The EAC, after detailed deliberations, recommended the project for grant of Environmental and CRZ (coastal regulatory zone) clearance, subject to compliance of terms and conditions as under, and general terms of conditions," the minutes said.

The new refinery will have the capacity to produce nearly four MMTPA and 1.8 MMPTPA of gasoline of BS-VI grade besides 0.6 MMTPA of LPG and 0.3 MMPTPA of Aviation Turbine Fuel.

Power requirement for the refinery will be 205 MW and will be met from internal Captive Power Plant (170 MW) and Tamil Nadu State electricity grid (35 MW).

Total area requirement for Cauvery Basin Refinery is 1338.29 acres in Tamil Nadu and 6.33 acres in Karaikal region in Puducherry UT (for Pipeline corridor).

The existing refinery area is 618.29 acres. The remaining 726.33 acres (720 acres in Tamil Nadu and 6.33 acres in Karaikal district of Puducherry UT) is under acquisition by CPCL.

"The estimated project cost is Rs 32,908 crores. Total capital cost earmarked towards environmental pollution control measures is Rs 199.40 crores and the recurring cost (operation and maintenance) will be about Rs 3 crores per annum," the EAC said.

As of January 2020, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) holds 51.89 per cent, Naftiran Inter-Trade Co Ltd-15.4 per cent while the rest is with the public and others.

CPCL has two refineries in the country. The Manali plant has a capacity of 10.5 MMTPA. The company incurred Rs 2,077.58 crore loss on Rs 48,729.04 crore total revenue in the last fiscal.