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 The Economic Times.
A senior shipping ministry official recently told a gathering of federal and Andhra officials that the ministry intends to co-locate a port with BPCL’s proposed refinery because it makes economic sense.
The people said the ministry feels that integrating the development of a port with the proposed refinery will reduce the cost of building a port.
They said the refinery can also become an anchor customer, ensuring a significant volume of business for the port from the very beginning. 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.
Source: Port News
