India's refining capacities to rise to 240 MTPA by Mar 2012

India's petroleum refining capacities is expected to rise to 240 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by March 2012 from the current 188 MTPA, attracting an estimated investment of Rs 60,000-65,000 crore. The capacity addition is believed to boost country's exports of petroleum products, informed a top government official here on Wednesday.

S Sundereshan, secretary, ministry of petroleum & natural gas, government of India today stated that the country would have an excess petroleum refining capacity of around 90 million tonnes per annum in next 12 to 18 months.

"Currently, we have an installed refining capacity of 188 MTPA, while several green field refinery projects are lined up and are expected to be operational by March 2012. This will increase the total refining capacity to 240 million tonnes," he said adding that the new refining capacities would attract an investment of around Rs 60,000-65,000 crore.

Currently, India's total demand for the petroleum products is pegged at around 140 MTPA. This creates a spare capacity of 48 million tonnes per annum at the refineries. The spare capacity will increase to around 90 million tonnes per annum. The domestic demand is expected to be around 142- 143 tonnes per annum.

"We will be actually exporting a total of 90 million tonnes of petroleum products to some of the most developed countries including the US and European countries," added Sundereshan.