IOC doubles Panipat refinery capacity

The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has doubled the capacity of its Panipat refinery capacity to 12-million tonnes, taking the total refining capacity of IOC group companies to 60.2-million tonnes per annum.

With this Rs4,300-crore expansion, the refinery will produce Euro III and Euro IV grade petrol and diesel. The recently commissioned Mundra-Panipat Pipeline will feed the additional crude to meet the requirement of the refinery's expanded capacity.

The Panipat refinery will cater to the petroleum needs of Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan and Delhi.

During 2006 16.5-million tonnes of refining capacity was added, taking India's combined capacity of its 19 refineries to 149-million tonnes per annum. Simultaneously, revenues from exports of petroleum products jumped to $10 billion in the first six months of the current financial year, up from $8.3 billion in 2005, and are expected to exceed $20 billion for the year.

Speaking at the dedication ceremony of the Panipat refinery, petroleum minister Murli Deora said that petroleum sector exports have now overtaken gems and jewellery as the leading export from India.

IOC is also moving into petrochemicals; it has already set up a sophisticated PX - PTA plant at the Panipat refinery complex and is in the process of also setting up a naphtha cracker and downstream polymer unit at an estimated cost of Rs14,000 crore.