* Plans to expand alumina refinery, aluminium smelter inOdisha
* Still in talks with state entity to get bauxite locally
* Sees OPEC production cut as a positive for oil business (Adds quotes, details)
By Devidutta Tripathy and Jatindra Dash
BHUBANESWAR, India, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc plans to invest as much as 200 billion rupees ($2.9billion) over three years to expand its alumina and aluminiumproducing capacity in eastern India's Odisha state, its chairmanAnil Agarwal said.
The company plans to expand the capacity of its Lanjigarhalumina refinery to 5 million tonnes from the current 2 milliontonnes and double the capacity of its Jharsuguda aluminiumsmelter to 2 million tonnes.
Vedanta has been trying to expand the capacity of itsrefinery for almost 8 years but a lack of availability ofbauxite, the raw material which is refined to make alumina, hasproved a hurdle.
Vedanta, which currently buys bauxite from elsewhere to feedthe plant, is still in talks with state-run Odisha Mining Corpto get access to the raw material locally, Agarwal said in thestate's capital where he was attending an investment summit.
"We are looking forward to some bauxite strategy to come,"the metals tycoon said in a group interview.
He said Vedanta, which has already invested 600 billionrupees to build the refinery and smelter, will need to put in afurther 150 billion to 200 billion rupees to expand capacity.
Vedanta would also be interested in bidding for iron oremines in the mineral-rich state and elsewhere in India in stateauctions, Agarwal said.
Vedanta's Cairn India unit produces oil in the country.
Agarwal said the Organization of the Petroleum ExportingCountries' decision to reduce oil output for the first timesince 2008 was a positive.
"Good for us," he said. "Prices will increase a bit."
Vedanta has previously said it planned to invest about 300billion rupees to augment its oil production capacity.($1 = 68.3355 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy and Jatindra Dash; Writing byPromit Mukherjee, editing by David Evans)
