Bathinda refinery may start by year-end

The ambitious 9-million tonne Bathinda oil refinery is now expected to be commissioned between October and December this year, as work on the HPCL-Mittal Energy (HMEL) promoted project is on the verge of completion.

"We are expecting the commissioning of the oil refinery in October and December this year, as the work is almost complete," a company official said.

Earlier, the company had projected that the refinery would be operational in the month of June and July this year.

The company has already imported the first consignment of crude oil from Gulf countries, which is being supplied through its 1,014-km-long pipeline laid between Gujarat's Mundra port and Bathinda.

"The crude oil is expected any day at the plant site which will be used for the refinery’s trial run," he said.

The work on oil refinery commenced on November 14, 2007 and capital outlay of Rs 18,919 crore was estimated to be spent on setting up the refinery.

After commissioning, the refinery would produce high value petroleum products such as LPG, naphtha, petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, pet coke etc. The liquid products would be marketed through HPCL, the solid products like sulphur, pet-coke and polypropylene would be sold directly by HMEL.

As per the break up, the capacity of major products like diesel will be 3.7 million tonne, followed by petrol at 1 million tonne, LPG 0.7 at million tonne and coke will be 0.9 million tonne in the upcoming refinery.

However, the contentious issue of granting additional fiscal incentives sought by HMEL from Punjab government still remained unresolved despite the state authorities' numerous assurances of taking a "fresh look" at the company's demands.

HMEL has been seeking Rs 400 crore per annum as interest free loan for the first 15 years from commissioning -- 2011-12 to 2025-26 -- which is to be paid back per annum from the 16th year, 2026-27, onwards for the next 15 years.