HPCL plans new 9-mn tonne refinery in Maharashtra

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) is carrying out a pre-project feasibility study for setting up a 9 million tonnes per annum grass root refinery in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

HPCL, which has a total of 1,137 retail outlets and 464 LPG distributors in Maharashtra, is also planning to expand its distribution network in the state, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas R P N Singh informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.

The company will be setting up 10 retail outlets in Latur district during the current year and next three years, he added.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) is reported to have asked HPCL to cut its production by 30 per cent till the end of winter, as the company's emission values are higher than the norm.

The PCB took the decision at a legal hearing held in Visakhapatnam yesterday in the presence of senior officials of the APPCB and the HPCL.

The PCB action followed complaints from the general public about noxious gas. Board officials along with 40 scientists drawn from various parts of the state conducted comprehensive monitoring of the local industrial belt for a week in November.

Tests revealed that the odour was caused by the HPCL refinery and emissions were exceeding the standards, reports said.

APPCB has now ordered HPCL to restrict crude processing to 70 per cent of the permitted capacity or to process only low sulphur crudes with sulphur content less than 0.5 per cent during winter.