Bhatinda Refinery Capacity Lowered To 6mmpta

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has decided to scale down the capacity of its beleaguered refinery at Bhatinda from 9 million tonnes per annum (mmtpa) to 6 mmtpa following the slowdown in the demand for petroleum products.

The corporation has decided to phase out the implementation of the refinery by installing a 6 mmtpa grassroot refinery and subsequently expanding it, "when growth materialises".

The implementation of the refinery was a key issue for the disinvestment of the public sector oil company.

As per the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment, the government is committed to implement it.

In a note submitted to the petroleum ministry recently, HPCL said it had decided to implement the project as a 6 mmtpa refinery by December 2006 considering the change in the demand-supply scenario.

The refinery will have major infrastructure facilities, including product tanks for motor spirit, superior kerosene and high-speed diesel, crude pipeline and associated facilities.

It will also have naphtha hydrotreater, continuous catalytic reformer, naphtha isonerisation unit, naphtha cracking unit, hydrogen production unit, and liquefied natural gas (LPG) storage.

The refinery will have a crude distillation unit, vacuum distillation unit, once-thru hydrocracker, deep catalytic cracker, diesel hydrotreater, vacuum residue desulphurisation sweetening units, bitumen blowing unit, FCC naphtha hydrotreater, sulphur recovery unit and associated facilities.

The commitment for the project till now is Rs 339 crore and expenditure is Rs 276.25 crore.