Public sector Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is looking at reviving its plan to set up a greenfield refinery plant in Visakhapatnam. The company already operates an 8.3-million tonne (mtpa) capacity refinery at the port city. The plan remained only on paper after HPCL was allotted 1,500 acre land five years ago. The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) recently cancelled the allotment and also paid back the money, which it had received towards land. “Petroleum Ministry officials have spoken to me on the revival of the refinery plans by the HPCL. The company is seeking to revive the project as it was not able to go for brownfield expansion at the existing refinery in Vizag,” BR Meena, vice chairman and managing director of APIIC, told Business Standard. HPCL had approached the AP government for the land in 2005 and was subsequently chosen as an anchor client for the upcoming Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR). The company at that time was looking at setting up a 15-mtpa refinery with a consortium of five companies, including Mittal Energy and TOTAL of France, which had apparently backed out of the project. “We wrote to the Andhra Pradesh government a couple of months back asking them to re-allocate the land to us. As and when we secure the land, we will look at reviving the project,” said a senior official from HPCL. The company now proposes to set up a 9.5 mtpa refinery, which will cost around Rs 20,000 crore, according to the official. However, APIIC now wants to tread cautiously. “We will consider reallotting the land once we receive a firm commitment along with the time lines on the execution of the project from HPCL,” Meena said. In recent times, the APIIC had cancelled land allotments made in favour of several private companies after they failed to implement their projects. According to Meena, the company has informed it intends to implement the project mostly on its own. “There are some pollution embargoes and land acquisition issues we are dealing with, with regard to our plans to put up greenfield refineries. As and when these issues are solved, we would be kicking off our plans,” the HPCL official said. HPCL, which is planning to build a Rs 30,000-crore greenfield refinery at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, hit an environmental hurdle with the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report, submitted by ecologist Madhav Gadgil last year. The company needs 3,000 acres, which it has sought in Tavsal, Ratnagiri district for the project.