Pradhan lays foundation for first high-octane fuel unit

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan laid the foundation stone for India's first "Octomax" unit at the Mathura refinery for the production of high-octane gasoline.

"The unit at Mathura refinery will be the first of its kind in India addressing the emerging scenario in petroleum refining," state-run Indian Oil Corp said in a statement on Monday.

"Octomax is a novel technology developed in-house by the research and development centre of Indian Oil for production of high-octane gasoline blending stock from the C4 stream to give very high octane number of the product," the statement said.

"The refinery will set up a plant of 55 kilo tons per annum (KTA) capacity at an estimated cost of Rs.43 crore and is expected to be completed by October 2017, it added.

"Mathura refinery will play major role in meeting government's target of introducing BS-VI standards in petrol and diesel by 2020," Pradhan said at the ceremony on Sunday.

"The plan is to further increase the capacity of Mathura Refinery to 11 million tons per annum at a cost of Rs.5,000 crore but it depends on Uttar Pradesh government facilitating the refinery by withdrawing the 5 percent entry tax," he added.

The minister also said he would personally take up the matter with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.