IOC to set up Rs 30k crore refinery in Mundra

An IOC refinery

STATE-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will be setting up a Rs 30,000-crore refinery at Mundra in Gujarat. This is a part of the PSU’s ambitious plan to raise its processing capacity to 100 million tonnes. The Maharatna PSU has seven refineries with a total capacity of 54.2 million tonnes and subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp operates a 11.5 million tonne plant. At present, IOC controls 10...

of India’s 22 refineries. The refinery in Mundra, located in a coastal area, is likely to enable IOC to ship in larger quantities of heavier grades of cheaper crude oil. The Adani Group has land at Mundra which IOC can take over for the proposed refinery. The company has been offered land by Adani Group at Mundra. IOC has a 13.7 million tonne refinery at Koyali in Gujarat and does not have a presence in Maharashtra. All of its refineries are landlocked. Its first coastal refinery at Paradip in Odisha will come up later this year.

Engineers India Ltd has been commissioned to do a configuration and location study for the west coast refinery. The plant is scheduled to come up by 2021-22.

IOC has plans to increase its refining capacity to 100 million tonnes by 2021-22. The Koyali refinery capacity will be increased to 18 million tonnes at a cost of Rs 4,858 crore, while the Mathura plant may be expanded to 11 million tonnes from 8 million tonnes. Also, an expansion of the Panipat plant to 18 or 21 million tonnes from 15 million tonnes is being considered. The under-construction 15 million ton Paradip refinery in Odisha will be expanded to 20 million tonnes in future.

IOC plans to invest Rs 56,200 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan period ending March 31, 2017. The company plans to set up a polypropylene unit at Paradip at a cost of Rs 3,150 crore while building similar units at Gujarat and Panipat. The Paradip refinery, he said, is nearing mechanical he said, is nearing mechanical completion and the petrochemical project will thereafter take 36-39 months to complete. IOC is India's flagship national oil company with business interests covering the entire hydrocarbon value chain – from refining, pipeline transportation and marketing of petroleum products to exploration and production of crude oil and gas, marketing of natural gas and petrochemicals. It is the leading Indian corporate in the Fortune 'Global 500' listing, ranked at the 88th position in the year 2013. With over 34,000 strong work force, IOC has been helping to meet India’s energy demands for over half a century. With a corporate vision to be the energy of India, IOC the year 2012-13 with a sales turnover of Rs 4,14,909 crore and profits of Rs 5,005 crore.