Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd to commission Cuddalore refinery by 2015-end.

Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd. (NOCL) plans to commission the first phase of its Rs. 25,000 crore Cuddalore refinery in Tamil Nadu by end of 2015, its Managing Director & CEO S Ramasundaram said recently.

NOCL is setting up a 6 million tonnes a year oil refinery at Cuddalore in phase-I with a similar capacity unit planned in the second phase.

'The first 6 million tonnes per annum unit is about 60 per cent complete and will be commissioned in 18 months from the date we get a strategic investor which is likely by mid-June,' Ramasundaram said.

He did not disclose details of the strategic investor Nagarjuna is roping in.

The first 6 million tonnes unit will cost Rs. 16,000 crore and while the expansion another Rs. 9,000 crore, taking the overall cost to about Rs. 2,000 crore per million tonne, he said.

So far, the promoters have contributed Rs. 1,840 crore of equity and another Rs. 4,615 crore has been borrowed from a consortium of 16 public sector banks and LIC.

NOCL needs Rs. 5,000-6,000 crore of debt and equity of Rs. 2,000-3,000 crore to complete the phase-1, he said.

The project was originally planned to be commissioned in 2012 but was delayed due to cyclone that hit east coast two years back.


ET