India's IOC plans to complete first unit at Paradip in December

The new Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) refinery in Paradip, Odisha state is set to have the first unit completed by December. The Port of Paradip is one of the largest on India’s east coast
Refinery capacity is expected to be 15 million metric tons per year (mtpy), or 300,000 barrels per day (bpd). This refinery is the most modern in India, with zero residue and fuels that meet strict specifications.
IOC Chairman R.S. Butola said, “The first unit will be completed by December 2013. But from then on we will progressively get other units commissioned over the next few months.”
The Paradip refinery was first expected to start up by March 2012 but has missed several deadlines.
On April 30, junior Oil Minister Panabaaka Lakshmi told the Parliament that the refinery is expected to start commercial production in the first quarter of 2014. She said the refinery project was approved at a cost of INR297.77 billion (USD4.75 billion) and it may get completed with a 10% cost overrun.
The new refinery is expected to produce 5.97 million mtpy of diesel fuel, 3.4 million mtpy of gasoline, 1.45 million mtpy of kerosene/jet fuel, 536,000 mtpy of LPG, 124,000 mtpy of naphtha and 335,000 mtpy of sulfur.
IOC is also expanding capacity at its Koyali refinery in the Gujarat area by investing about INR8,000 crore (USD1.28 billion). The expansion will take the refinery from 13.7 million to 18 million mtpy by 2016-17, according to Gujarat Refinery Executive Director Gautam Roy.
The refinery was first built in 1965. To augment the operational reliability, the refinery is setting up a new gas turbine that will provide ensured power to the unit. The refinery is also implementing the Indian Oil – DuPont Safety Partnership which will encourage employees to operate safely by changing the company culture.
The expansion will help the unit increase its processing of high sulfur crude, which is cheaper. High sulfur crude oil made up 51.5% of the crude oil the refiner processed in 2012-13.
The Gujarat refinery is IOC’s second biggest refinery behind the Panipat unit which has an annual capacity of 15 million tons. The company owns nine refineries with a total capacity of 54.2 million tons per annum. It also owns Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (CPCL), which has an 11.50 million mtpy unit near Chennai.
Besides Koyali, IOC is also looking at expanding its Haldia refinery to 8 million from 7.5 million mtpy, while also raising the Chennai refinery capacity by 600,000 tons.
(August 15, 21, 2013)