HPCL's, BPCL's refineries to be completed: Naik

new delhi: petroleum minister ram naik said on wednesday he would seek completion of bhatinda and bina refineries -- at an investment of over rs 15,000 crore -- by hindustan petroleum and bharat petroleum, even after their privatisation. "it is in the national interest to complete the two projects... we shall have to find ways of doing this. it''s an issue in which all cabinet colleagues will be interested and it will be discussed with them," naik said. asked if a precondition for completion of rs 9,000 crore bhatinda refinery by hpcl and rs 6,000 crore bina refinery by bpcl could be built in the expressions of interest for privatisation of the two corporations, naik said "i would discuss the issue with disinvestment minister arun shourie." with refining capacity of 112.5 million tonnes outstripping the demand for petroleum products in the country, which has remained stagnant at around 100 million tonnes during the past two years, the new acquirer of state-run bpcl and hpcl may not continue with the grassroot refinery projects at such a huge investment. naik said the issue of completion of the projects needs to be sorted out before the disinvestment. while the cabinet committee on disinvestment has set a time-frame of three months for putting before it a proposal for divesting government equity in oil refining and marketing companies hpcl and bpcl, the issue now being debated is whether a commitment to complete these projects be incorporated in the sale document or should these projects be hived off as separate companies. sources said the uncertainty over the fate of massive investment projects like the 9-million tonnes bhatinda refinery in punjab and the 6-million tonnes bina refinery in madhya pradesh prompted the ccd, at its last meeting, to decide against excluding oil psus like ongc from bidding for bpcl and hpcl. several ministers had expressed apprehension that the fate of the projects, linked to which are massive employment and growth of small and medium scale industries, would be uncertain if only private corporates were allowed. "private corporates are likely to weigh projections of demand for petroleum products more than the commitments," sources said. the fact that projects are located in non-bjp ruled states is linked with certain ''political implications'', sources said. hpcl has already invested about rs 400 crore in bhatinda refinery project while bpcl has spent about rs 250 crore for bina refinery, sources said, pointing out that in a recent review meeting with the chief ministers of mp and gujarat, the prime minister said that bina project be expedited. disinvestment ministry is currently in the process of appointing advisors for sale of government equity in bpcl and hpcl.