IOC Paradip refinery to go on stream by mid-2012

Rs 8,000 crore already invested on the project

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), the nation's largest oil marketing firm hopes to commission its proposed 15 million tonne per annum refinery project at Paradip by the middle of 2012. The oil major has already invested Rs 8000 crore on the project.

"Our refinery project will be commissioned by the middle of next year. Around Rs 8000 crore has already been invested in the refinery project. We are not facing any problem at the project site and the state government is also very supportive. The state Chief Minister has assured us that his officials will continuously monitor the progress of the refinery”, R S Butola, chairman of IOCL told newspersons after meeting the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Asked on the petrochemical complex, he said, “The petrochemical complex was slated to be taken up in the second phase. As on today, the IOCL board has only approved the refinery project. When the 15 mtpa refinery and the petrochemical complex were planned by IOCL, a total investment of Rs 55,000 crore was envisaged.”

The total cost of the refinery, Butola said, would be about Rs 25,000 crore.

Earlier, in January this year, the then IOCL chairman Brij Mohan Bansal had said, financial constraints would delay the establishment of the petrochemical project in Paradip. He had also stated that the petrochemical complex would be taken up after two years of operations of the Paradip refinery.

The refinery project involves massive civil, structural and mechanical works involving 2600 equipment, 1400 km of piping, 90,000 bored and driven piles, 500,000 cubic metres of concreting and 1600 km of electrical cables in which 10,000 people have been engaged to expedite the work.

The refinery will produce 5.97 million tonnes of diesel, 3.4 million tonnes of petrol, 1.45 million tonnes of kerosene/ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel), 536,000 tonnes of LPG, 124,000 tonnes of naphtha and 335,000 tonnes of sulphur, all of which will be for sale in the domestic market.

IOCL has been handed over 3344.65 acres of land at the project site.

The oil marketing major is also the anchor tenant for the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) in Orissa which has already been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The PCPIR project in the state would be set up on 284.15 sq km (70,214 acres) of land spread over Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts. The PCPIR hub is expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs 2.74 lakh crore.