News Release Details

IndianOil signs MoU with Nuclear Power Corporation
New Delhi   04-Nov-2009
IndianOil has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.(NPCIL), for investing in the vastly promising nuclear energy sector in the country. The MoU was signed at Mumbai today by Mr. Sarthak Behuria, Chairman, and Dr. S. K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, NPCIL, in the presence of Mr. B. M. Bansal, Director (Petrochemicals & Business Development), Mr. S. V. Narasimhan, Director(Finance), Mr. G. C. Daga, Director(Marketing), Mr. J. K. Ghai, Director(Finance), NPCIL, Mr. G. Nageswara Rao, Director(Operations), NPCIL and other senior officials from NPCIL and IndianOil. For IndianOil, the venture with NPCIL is expected to be as a partner for the equity portion of the investments being made in the three major nuclear power projects at Kakrapur(1400 MW), Kudankulam(2000 MW) and Jaitapur(3300 MW). The outlay would be spread across the period of the project and would only be a part of the overall capital expenditure plan laid out for IndianOil. The cost of a Nuclear plant with an average capacity of 700-1000 MW would be in the range of Rs. 7,000 -10,000 crore. Presently, NPCIL operates 17 nuclear reactors with a total installed capacity of 4120 MW and five reactors totaling 2660 MW capacity are under construction. IndianOil has been exploring various baskets of energy sources such as wind power, solar energy, bio-fuels and nuclear energy in its endeavor to transform into an integrated energy major. The NPCIL was first incorporated as a public limited company in September, 1987 under the Companies’ Act, with a primary purpose of implementing atomic power projects and operating atomic power stations for generation of electricity. The Government of India allows only the NPCIL & its subsidiaries under the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to put up nuclear power plants in India. The projected demand for Power in India, is estimated at 430 GW by 2017 (as per a McKinsey study) and the power deficit in country is expected to be over 290 GW. However, the existing players in the power sector are expected to add only a maximum 9-10 GW/year, still leaving behind a substantial shortfall. Nuclear power is increasingly seen as effective option across the world due to its low-carbon technology, environment-friendliness and long-term sustainability. Several countries like US, France, Japan & China have proposed to construct more than 200 nuclear power reactors in the long term.