HPL officials despatch the first tanker of Euro III-compliant petrol from the company?s plant on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Feb. 1: Drive in to a filling station and you might just tank up on fuel from Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL). Bengal?s showpiece industrial venture has broken out of its product confines to string together an alliance under which small quantities of motor spirit it produces will be sold by Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).

Not only is HPL pumping petrol, it is offering the cleanest variety ? Euro-III. The new fuel reducing auto emission meets stringent norms on low benzene and sulphur content.

The BPCL tie-up is needed because rules allow fuel retailing only to firms with refineries. HPL, producing petrol by refining naphtha cracker products, does not own one.

HPL is producing 10,000 tonnes of petrol per month, a figure it expects to double by the end of the next year. As the first tanker left Haldia for BPCL depots today, HPL chief executive Swapan Bhowmik said he saw revenues of Rs 300-400 crore from the new line of business.

?We started producing Euro?III compliant petrol six months into 2004. It contains high levels of octane (octane 92). Our fuel has been certified by independent national research institutes,? he added. Since October, 6,000 tonnes is being shipped to Southeast Asia every month.

HPL cannot say just how much petrol BPCL will buy. The oil major will initially test-market the product to gauge the demand before it starts placing orders for fixed volumes.

Tie-ups with other oil PSUs are not ruled out, too. In fact, industry analysts feel the company might explore an alliance with Indian Oil Corporation, the Fortune 500 firm investing Rs 150 crore in HPL for a 7.5 per sent stake.

?Producing gasoline (petrol) is one of the avenues of generating revenues. We are also looking at new products which will bring in more cash for us,? said Bhowmik.

The company, cash-strapped until a couple of years back, now rustles up a surplus of Rs 95-100 crore every month. It expects to achieve a profit before tax of Rs 950 crore in the current fiscal and a net profit of Rs 600 crore.

Turnover this year is seen at Rs 6,000 crore against Rs 4,500 crore in the previous fiscal. At the moment, HPL is working on an initial public offer expected in three months. This is also to keep a promise it has made to lenders to complete the flotation before the end of May.

?The board will meet soon to take a final call on the timing of the proposed offer,? HPL officials had said last month. Kotak Mahindra Bank, DSP Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan have been picked as lead managers to the book-built issue.