Barmer refinery may run fully on domestic crude oil: Moily

Cairn India's production from Barmer would zoom to 300,000 barrels per day by 2017-18

The Rs 37,230-crore refinery-cum-petrochemical complex here of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) might in time become the first in the country to be fully dependent on indigeneous crude oil, says Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily.

According to him, Cairn India’s production from Barmer would zoom to 300,000 barrels a day by 2017-18 from the current 1,75,000 barrels a day, by the time the new refinery comes into place.

“The clients of crude produced from Cairn blocks like Reliance and Essar are not tuned to take such high-sulphur waxy crude in a higher quantity. Though the cabinet has cleared the project with 50 per cent dependency on imported coal, we expect the production to go up, once clearances are in place for Cairn,” Moily added on the sidelines of the foundation ceremony. He said the refinery would add another six-million tonne capacity from the current nine mr if production is higher by 2017.

Shifting of the refinery from its earlier location of Leelala to Pachpadra, both in this district, has saved HPCL at least Rs 1,000 crore, say company sources. HPCL had registered 4,800 acres from the Rajasthan government last week for the refinery.  

When it started production in 2009, Cairn was producing only 25,000 barrels of crude oil a day. It has since increased to 175,000 barrels a day and is expected to be around 215,000 barrels a day by the end of 2013-14, said the company. So far, it has discovered 26 oil blocks in the Mangala area. The number is set to increase, with the company thinking of investing another $2 billion in the Rajasthan block on exploration in the next two years.

A senior petroleum ministry official added the reserves with Cairn would be higher than the 4.5 mt per annum estimated by the directorate general of hydrocarbons.

The minister added the government was in the process of clearing hurdles for the Reliance Industries and Cairn blocks and a decision on relinquishment of the Reliance Industry Limited blocks would be taken soon.