IOC to cut Panipat refinery runs by 50% from May 8

The company plans major maintenance work at some of the units for about 40 days

Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest refiner, plans to shut half of its 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) Panipat refinery from Thursday for about 40 days as it plans major maintenance work at some of the units, two company sources said.

Panipat refinery is IOC's biggest plant and has two crude units of 150,000 bpd each.

IOC will shut a crude unit from May 8 to May 22 and when this unit resumes operations the refiner will close the second unit until mid-June, the sources, who are not authorised to speak to the media, said.

"We have planned the shutdown in such a way that one of our crude units will remain functional during the maintenance period. So, our throughput will not be entirely hit," said one of the sources.

The refiner's 850,000 tonnes per year (tpy) fluid catalytic cracker, which is already shut down for maintenance since April 29, will resume operations from May 17, the sources said.

The refiner did not export naphtha in April because of the planned shutdown, while its only cargo for May-lifting, offered by its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp, is yet to be awarded.

"We are mobilising naphtha from other refineries like Gujarat and Mathura so that runs at our naphtha cracker at Panipat will not be hit due to the shutdown," said one of the sources.

An IOC spokesman could not be reached for comment.

IOC along with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum operates about 31 percent of the country's 4.3 million bpd refining capacity.