The refineries will come up at the port town of Haldia and the Nayachar river island.

Manabendra Guha Roy, chief executive officer of the BSE-listed company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the managing director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, MV Rao, and the Haldia Development Authority’s CEO, Parwez Ahmed Siddiqui in presence of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Bhattacharjee said that on completion , three refineries would generate about 8,000 jobs. State Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen and HDA Chairman Lakshman Seth were also present at the signing ceremony.

Terming the signing of today’s MoU as an important milestone towards achieving the proposed Petroleum, Chemical, Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) at Haldia, Sen said that Indian Oil Corporation will increase the capacity of its refineries to 12.5 million tonne over the next two years.

In the first two phases, Cals will invest Rs 8,000 crore in two refineries at Haldia, each having an output of 5 million tonne. This will require around 1,000 acres of land.

“These will be standard refineries that will produce various grades of petrol, diesel, naphtha and the LPG,” Guha Roy said. They will also supply naphtha to Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, he added.

The firm is currently negotiating with various companies for export of petrol and diesel.

Cals is also trying to rope in BP as an equity partner.

The third refinery of the firm at Nayachar will come up in the last phase and will be set up at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore.