Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on a day's visit to Madhya Pradesh, dedicated the world-class, 6 million tonnes per annum Bina refinery to the nation here on Friday and said the country would increase its refining capacity to 23.80 million tonnes by 2012.
“I am happy that our refining capacity, which was 620 lakh tonnes in 1998, has now become 1,870 lakh tonnes. By 2012, we are working toward enhancing this capacity to 2,380 lakh tonnes,” the Prime Minister said, formally declaring the refinery here, in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, open.
The refinery was set up by Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL), which is promoted by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, with equity participation of 26 per cent by Oman Oil Company and about one per cent by the Madhya Pradesh Government.
“This project is an example of cooperation in many areas between Oman and India. I hope it will further strengthen the relationship between the two countries,” Dr. Singh said. The Prime Minister said “not only are we self-reliant in fulfilling our need to refine petroleum products, the country is also exporting these petroleum products in a big way”.
Dr. Singh said that in 2010-11, India exported 560 lakh tonnes of petroleum products, adding that the nation was constantly endeavouring to adopt modern refining technologies.
“I am happy that our refineries have achieved the capacity not only to produce environment-friendly auto fuels, but also supplying BS-IV and BS-III standard auto fuels,” he said.
The Prime Minister expressed hope that the new hydrocarbon sources found in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh recently will fulfil the requirement of crude for our refineries in future and added that the nation would further intensify its efforts to find newer sources of crude. “The country needs to adopt new technologies in search of hydrocarbons,” he said.
“Deep sea exploration, shale gas and tar sands are the new areas for oil exploration and in many parts of the world, search in this regard is going on,” he said. “We also need to explore these new areas,” the Prime Minister said.
Dr. Singh said this project would raise the revenue of the State government and provide employment to 5,000 persons and would also create opportunities for setting up downstream industries.
Addressing the function, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy said the Bina Refinery was equipped with world-class technology and had the flexibility to process all types of crude oil.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan raised the issue of the refinery not fulfilling its commitment to provide 60 per cent employment to locals on the occasion.
Union Ministers Kamal Nath, Kantilal Bhuria, R. P. N. Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Arun Yadav, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh and Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL) Chairman R. K. Singh, among others, were present on the occasion.
