Saudi Aramco to hold 50 per cent stake in Ratnagiri Refinery

In a bid to increase the share of oil imports from India, Saudi Aramco has signed an MoU for developing 60 MT per annum refinery in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. In the last fiscal year, Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia as the largest supplier of crude oil to India.

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) is a integrated energy and chemicals company which is valued at close to US$2 trillion. The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Indian consortium of state-owned oil companies including BPCL, HPCL and IOCL to build a refining complex in Babulwadi, Rajapur taluka in Ratnagiri district. The agreement entails that Saudi Aramco will be supplying around 30 MT crude oil, which is half of the refinery's processing capacity.

The Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (RRPCL) will be built at an estimated cost of Rs. 3 lakh crore or US$44 billion. According to the Union Petroleum Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, the partnership between the consortium and Saudi Aramco will on a 50:50 basis. Saudi Aramco plans to dilute its 50 per cent stake to an additional strategic partner on a later date. The project is expected to be commissioned by 2022.

Meanwhile, at 15:00 hours, the stock of BPCL was at Rs. 420.30 per share, down by 6.80 per cent, HPCL was at Rs. 337.95, down by 7.35 per cent, IOCL was at Rs. 168.00 per share, down by 6.30 per cent on Wednesday.