Private refiners say cyclone Nilofar will not disrupt output

Nilofar is expected to make landfall on the northern Gujarat coast on Saturday

Private oil refiners are taking precautions but do not anticipate any impact on their operations from cyclone Nilofar, which is expected to hit the country's west coast on Saturday, officials said.

Nilofar, classified as a 'very severe cyclonic storm', is expected to weaken to a 'cyclonic storm' when it makes landfall on the northern Gujarat coast, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.

Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, operates the world's biggest refining complex in Gujarat, where its two adjacent plants can process about 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil.

But that complex and Essar Oil Ltd's 400,000-barrel-per-day Vadinar refinery do not lie directly in the expected path of the cyclone, officials from both companies said.

"We have operating procedures for any kind of eventuality," a person with direct knowledge of Reliance's operations told Reuters.

Essar Oil said in an emailed statement that it was taking "all due precautions" and did not expect any production outage.