The shipping ministry has offered to build a seaport alongside a refinery that Bharat Petroleum Corp is planning to set up in Andhra Pradesh, according to people familiar with the matter.
A senior shipping ministry official recently told a gathering of federal and Andhra officials about its intentions to co-locate a port with BPCL’s proposed refinery, as it made economic sense to do so, people familiar with the matter said. The ministry feels that the cost of building a port will come down by integrating its development with the proposed refinery, the people said. Besides, the refinery can become an anchor customer, ensuring a significant volume of business for the port from the very beginning, they said.
Indian refineries import most of the crude oil they process and need proximity to ports for easier and cheaper input sourcing.
Andhra Pradesh has told the Centre that it can allot land at Machilipatnam, Ramayapatnam or Mulapeta for the proposed refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex.