Kolkata: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is planning to expand its operations at Haldia with a potential chemical downstream project after CM Suvendu Adhikari urged the company to invest in the port town at a meet on the India Energy Week (IEW) 2027, IOC chairperson Arvindar Singh Sahney said on Monday.“We are thinking of expanding at Haldia. This could be a chemical downstream project. We shall table the proposal at the board in due course,” Sahney said on the sidelines of a curtain-raiser event for IEW 2027 in Kolkata.Sahney did not give an investment figure but said IOC had sought additional land for the project, which the state govt has agreed to provide. Experts said a project of this nature could attract an investment of Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore.Adhikari said earlier that IOC had sought 175 acres for new projects. He had spoken to the Haldia Development Authority to arrange 85 acres, with the remaining land to be arranged through the Kolkata Port Authority.“I have already spoken to the port authority and necessary arrangements will be made,” Adhikari said.IOC operates a 9.5-million-tonne-a-year refinery at Haldia.Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who was in Kolkata for the IEW 2027 curtain-raiser, said the event would be held in the city for the first time at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s insistence.IEW, one of the world’s largest oil and gas exhibitions, has previously been held in Bengaluru, New Delhi and Goa. Puri said the Jan 2027 edition would be the largest so far. Last year’s event drew 75,000 participants, 700 exhibitors and representatives from 120 countries.Around 17,000 sq metres of exhibition space has already been booked for the Kolkata edition, Puri said, adding that organisers hoped to exceed the 24,000 sq metres booked at the previous event.Speaking at a session on India’s energy security organised by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Puri said Bengal’s economy had declined over the past five decades but the state would now “occupy centre stage due to recent development”.“Economic progress of Bengal is of highest priority of the Centre. That is why the India Energy Week is being held here,” Puri said.Puri also said there would be no shortage of energy in Bengal during the festive season and said India had “navigated well in energy security during global uncertainty.”Addressing concerns over LPG supply, Puri said oil marketing companies faced large under-recoveries but remained “good corporate citizens”. He said the Centre had earmarked Rs 84,000 crore for exploration and production.Around Rs 17,600 crore of investments by oil PSUs are currently underway in Bengal, with another Rs 1,500 crore in the pipeline, Puri said. The proposed IOC projects at Haldia would be over and above these investments.
