Rajasthan inks Rs 30,530-cr pacts with petroleum firms

Rajasthan government on Wednesday signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 30,530 crore with nine petroleum companies including Cairn India, GAIL and IOC for facilitating gas distribution, pipeline network and terminals for exploration and production activities.

These include projects by Cairn India (Rs 2,500 crore), GSPL Gasnet India (Rs 5,000 crore), Focus Energy (Rs 3,730 crore), GAIL (India) (Rs 3,000 crore), Rajasthan State Gas Ltd (Rs 2,700 crores) and IOCL (Rs 2,300 crore) among others.

The investment plan of the MoUs will be implemented over a period of three years from 2015, a statement said.

The MoUs were signed in Jaipur in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and Rajasthan Chief Secretary CS Rajan, among others.

"This MoU signing ceremony is an appropriate curtain raiser for the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit 2015.

The state government shall provide all possible assistance to the investors, who for us are partners in development," Raje said.

These MoUs will facilitate City Gas Distribution, Pipeline Network and Terminals for exploration as well as production activities, she added.

The Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit, scheduled to be held in Jaipur on November 19-20, 2015, will bring together leading investors from all over the world.

The MoUs were signed by Rajasthan Principal Secretary Mines and Petroleum Ashok Singhvi with public sector, MNC and private companies in the petroleum sector.

The Chief Minister said the Government was committed to setting up the proposed refinery project in the state since the domestic crude produced was being exported without any value addition.

Incentives would be offered as required and the review report of the refinery project would be submitted to the Central Government by the end of this month, she added.

Raje said petroleum and its products "fuel" economies and were symbols of prosperity.

Pradhan also assured that the refinery project would be considered for setting up in Rajasthan once the review report of the refinery project was received.

He said efforts would be made to convert Jaipur–Delhi route into a Green Energy Corridor.

He further added that the MoUs would facilitate infrastructure projects in oil and gas exploration.