Speaking to The Financial Express following the announcement of its annual results, managing director Kalyan Dasgupta said: ``Given the market conditions, we have decided to re-evaluate the project. Under the circumstances, it may not be feasible to set up such a stand alone refinery.''

``Hence we are looking at several options, but it is too early at this point to discuss them in detail,'' Dasgupta added. The $750 million project, in association with Sumitomo of Japan, was also to have a captive power plant with a generating capacity of 250 mw. The company had also identified a site near the Paradeep port in Orissa for the greenfield venture and has acquired 700 acres for the purpose.

Sumitomo of Japan had earlier expressed its willingness to pick up a 25 per cent stake in the proposed project. Engineering consultants BechtelCorporation of the US has been given the mandate for setting up the project.

The refinery was expected to produce 2.40 lakh tonnes of base oil and other speciality products like paraffin and micro crystalline waxes.

The company's board also approved the results for the 1998-99 fiscal. It has posted a 31.9 per cent jump in net profits for the 1998-99 fiscal despite a downturn in the automotive industry.

Propped by higher volumes sales of 6 per cent, the company recorded a 4.4 per cent rise in turnover at Rs 261.93 crore against Rs 251 crore in the previous 12 months.

Net profit during the period increased to Rs 11.46 crore as compared with Rs 8.69 crore the year before. The bottomline growth has also resulted in the earnings per share (EPS) rising to Rs 9.16 from Rs 11.03 on an increased capital base, due to part-conversion of cumulative convertible preference shares (CCPS).

The company's marketshare, despite the slowdown in its user industries, particularly the commercial vehicles segment, hasimproved to around 6 per cent. The industry, which has seen the advent of a large number of multinationals since liberalisation in the early 1990s, is dominated by the public sector oil companies led by Indian Oil Corporation with close to 40 per cent share. Castrol is the only multinational company which has any sizeable marketshare with 18 per cent. Gulf Oil India is also setting up a state-of-the-art R&D centre to cater to the development of new products. The centre will support the needs of Gulf Oil International in the Asian markets as well.