The Hindu Business Line : `IOC role still to be firmed up'

SENIOR industry department officials in the West Bengal Government feel it is hard to foresee the role that Indian Oil Corporation would have in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), whose debt restructuring was okayed by the Corporate Debt Restructuring Forum on Thursday in Mumbai.

"Talks will have to be held with all of HPL's equity partners — the Chatterjee Group, GAIL (India) Ltd, the Tatas and the banks," an official told Business Line.

Investment in Haldia is always welcome but when it comes to HPL, a decision can be taken only after talks with all the parties concerned, he said.

IOC had submitted in early December a Rs 5,700-crore proposal to the State Government for investing not only in the equity of HPL but also in a condensate refinery, a synthetic rubber unit and a styrene plant paving the way for the emergence of Haldia as a chemical hub.

The proposal was followed up by a visit to the State Industry Department by IOC's Director Projects, Mr M. Nayyar. The Industry Secretary, Dr S. Sen, told presspersons after the meeting that it has been decided to jointly evolve a road-map to make way for IOC's entry into Haldia and feasibility studies would commence soon.

IOC sources said that the corporation would always remain interested in HPL, as it was keen to get an entry into petrochemical business. They said that now that the debt restructuring process was over " it is up to the promoters of HPL to take a call on IOC's proposal".

They indicated that while IOC was interested in gaining management control in HPL with board-level representation in a phased manner, it made little difference to the oil major, whether GAIL remained in the picture or not.

However, sources said, that it was important for West Bengal not to miss the IOC bus, since it entailed huge investment opportunities catapulting Haldia to the status of a chemical park.

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