HPCL to operate Vizag plant at 60 pct capacity for 10 days

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd will operate its 166,000 barrels per day (bpd) Vizag refinery at about 60 percent capacity for 10 days as two secondary units will remain shut, its head of refineries said on Monday.

HPCL on Friday shut one of the fluid catalytic cracker and a reformer as a precaution after a blast in the cooling tower, in which death toll now has risen to 9.

"The refinery will operate at 60 percent capacity. After 10 days we hope to operate at full capacity," B. K. Namdeo told Reuters.

He said his firm will not import fuel to make up for the cut in throughput but instead will buy more from private refiners.

Friday's blaze is the second major fire at the plant in three months. The 60,000 bpd crude unit at Vizag was halted on May 16 after a fire on a pipeline attached to the unit.

Apart from its Vizag refinery in southern India, HPCL also operates a 130,000 bpd plant in Maharashtra. It also has a stake in the 180,000 bpd Bathinda refinery, which is operated by Hindustan-Mittal Energy Ltd, part-owned by LN Mittal.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Jason Neely)