ONGC plans Rs 4,000 cr refinery in Rajasthan

ONGC is planning to set up a Rs 4,000 crore refinery in Barmer in Rajasthan, the site of recent oil discoveries by Cairn Energy of UK. ‘‘We are talking to Cairn Energy to jointly set up the refinery,’’ ONGC CMD Subir Raha said in an interview. The refinery is planned to have an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum and would process the heavy crude oil find of Cairn Energy in block RJ-on-90/1 in Rajasthan. Raha said equity holding in the refinery project was being discussed with Cairn. ONGC holds 30 per cent interest in Cairn’s two oil fields in the block. ‘‘Talks are in progress and investment plans will be firmed up soon,’’ he said. Raha said ONGC was also studying the possibility of raising the capacity of its subsidiary MRPLto 30 million tonnes. — PTI