New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS): Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri on Tuesday said that the greenfield refinery cum petrochemical complex at Rajasthan's Barmer will turn out to be a "jewel of the desert", as it would help in job creation in the region.

The minister, who was in Barmer on a visit to the refinery complex, said that it will process 9 metric million tonnes per annum of crude and produce more than 2.4 million tonnes of petrochemicals, which will reduce import bill on account of petrochemicals.

This project will act as an industrial hub not only for western Rajasthan but will also steer India to its vision of achieving 450 metric million tonnes per annum refining capacity by 2030, he added.

The greenfield refinery cum petrochemical complex is being set up by a joint venture company HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd (HRRL) of the HPCL and Rajasthan government, where both have stakes of 74 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively.

The project was conceived in 2008 and was initially approved in 2013. It was reconfigured and work on it commenced in 2018.

More than 60 per cent of the project has been completed despite two years of disruptions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Puri further said that the project will bring self-reliance to India in terms of import substitution of petrochemicals. Current imports are to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore, which would be cut down by Rs 26,000 crore, once the complex is commissioned, official sources said.