GAIL eyes petrochemical plant in Andhra

State-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and gas utility GAIL India Ltd are looking at jointly setting up a multi-billion dollar petrochemical plant in Andhra Pradesh.

They are exploring the possibility of a petrochem project after their plans to team up with France's Total, Lakshmi N Mittal Group and Oil India Ltd (OIL) for a 15 million tons a year refinery-cum-petrochemical plant at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh fell through.

"That project fell as partners pulled out one after the other due to weak global demand," a top official said. "Now, HPCL and GAIL are looking at setting up a petrochemical plant at the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) sites identified by the state government."