IOC to start land acquisition for expansion of Gujarat facility

The Gujarat refinery of state-run Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) near here will start the process of land acquisition for its proposed Rs  6,800 crore capacity expansion project, a top company official has said.

IOC Executive Director S K Dhar Gupta said the process will start and they have received directives from the Gujarat government to purchase private land.

"We will buy the land at market rates and the process will be faster. We had approached the state government for 80 acres land for the project. Since the government was not in a position (to give land), they have directed us to purchase private land," Gupta told PTI here today.

The state-run refiner will invest Rs  5,000 crore to increase its overall capacity to 18 million tonnes from the present 13.7 million tonnes and Rs  1,800 crore to make the end product compliant with the low-sulphur Bharat Stage norms.

The refinery, located at Koyali on the outskirts of the city, is spread across 1,950 acres, which includes its Asoj and Dumad terminal operations.

The expansion will lead to improved distillate yield, thereby enabling production of more value added products from the refinery, he said. The process of negotiations with land owners to acquire a large chunk of land has started, Gupta added.