Tatipaka expansion to be over by July

The expansion of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's Tatipaka mini refinery, taken up at a cost of Rs 20 crore, is likely to be completed by July next year.

"At present, we are preparing required designs for the project. We may start construction work by June and will complete the project within one year from the zero date. On completion of expansion, the production capacity of the mini refinery will go up to two lakh tonnes per annum," P A N Rao, the chief engineer of ONGC and in-charge of Tatipaka refinery, told Business Standard.

Tatipaka Refinery, first of its kind in the country, a skid-mounted relocatable type was conceptualised when there were problems evacuating the oil produced in remote locations of the Krishna Godavari basin.

Crude oil transport to Visakhapatnam refiner start with one tanker per day and subsequently 50 tankers were pressed into service every day, covering around 500 km to and fro.

There were a lot of hassles in unloading these tankers at HPCL, and when a major fire broke out at Vizag refinery in 1996, the crude oil transport by tankers was diverted to Narimanam refinery. It involved a distance of 2,500 km two-way. Even this did not stop problems from recurring.

Finally, the concept of a mini refinery (well head refinery) for generating fuel from the oil produced for drilling was conceived. Basic engineering for the mini refiner project was developed by IOGPT, and NICCO executed the project in technical collaboration with US-based Ventech.

Since its commissioning in September 2001, the mini refinery plant has be operating successfully without any hitch. Naphtha, which is produced at this mini refinery, is sourced by HPCL for supply to Nagarjuna Fertilizers.

LSHS is picked up by BPCL for fuel purpose. HSD is partly consumed by ONGC's own drilling rigs in Rajahmundry and Karaikal, and partly supplied to HPCL, IOC and BPCL. SKO is supplied to HPCL and IOC for public distribution system.

The mini refinery is designed to handle 66,000 tonnes per annum. It is at present operating with a capacity of one lakh tonnes i.e., at 130 per cent of its installed capacity.

It is a new benchmark in its operational performance. The refinery is certified 99.8 per cent energy efficient by the energy audit group and it has a zero accident rate.

The initial investment of Rs 26 crore was paid back by the refinery in a record span of 15 months, Rao said. Last fiscal this mini refinery earned a revenues of Rs 22 crore, he added.