India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government is considering building smaller oil refineries as it faces challenges in land acquisition.
His statement comes against the backdrop of an oil refineries project which has been stalled for many years in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra state after a huge protest led recently by villagers and native people.
In 2015, the state and federal governments announced plans to set up a $50Bln mega-refinery on the west coast of Ratnagiri.
However, even after changing the location twice in the district, citizens have protested against the project and not allowed the land to be bought.
This project was originally planned to start by 2025. However, as the government could not buy the land the cost has risen to $60Bln, according to 2019 estimates by Reuters.
“Refineries are high cost. We are looking at a large number of smaller ones that can process about 20 million tonnes per annum, because if I make it too big, then land acquisition and other issues become problematic,” Puri said while addressing an energy summit organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The smaller refineries will help the country to achieve its ultimate goal of 450 million metric tonnes per annum refining capacity in the country, the minister said
India has a refining capacity of 252 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA).