Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) on Thursday said the company was in talks with various entities in a bid to revive plans to set up a $10 billion refinery-cum-petrochemical project in Vizag.
Talking to newsmen here, HPCL Chairman and Managing Director S. Roy Choudhury said the company was presently in talks with Oil India Limited (OIL) and GAIL (India) and was not averse to going along with a foreign partner to implement the project.
An HPCL-led consortium had put the project on hold in 2007. Mr. Choudhury said the company planned to invest Rs.45,000 crore, mostly in refinery capacity additions, in six years beginning 2011-12.
Expansion
HPCL's Vizag refinery capacity is being expanded while a new unit is being planned in Maharashtra. The company's 9-million tonnes Bhatinda refinery in Punjab will be mechanically completed in August/September and will be fully commissioned by the year-end.
Meanwhile, the company reported a 48 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, at Rs.1,122.66 crore against Rs.757.53 crore in the year-ago period, on higher refinery margins, Mr. Choudhury said. Net sales rose to Rs.39,666.84 crore from Rs.31,321.33 crore.
Dividend
In the whole of 2010-11, the net profit was up 18.2 per cent at Rs.1,539.01 crore against Rs.1,301.37 crore while net sales rose to Rs.1.33-lakh crore from Rs.1.09-lakh crore in the previous year. The company said it received Rs.8,976.28 crore in cash subsidy from the government for selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below their imported cost.
The board has recommended a dividend of Rs.14 per share for 2010-11 against Rs.12 per share in 2009-10.
