IOC's Gujarat refinery to process Cairn crude from November
Mumbai   20-Oct-2010


B N Bankapur,
Director (Refineries), IndianOil

IndianOil's Koyali Refinery at Gujarat will begin processing Cairn India's Mangala crude from November once the delayed coker unit is commissioned. The 3.7 million tonne (mt) a year delayed coker unit will help the refinery process any type of crude, including heavy crude.

“We will commission the delayed coker unit at Koyali refinery in November. Currently, we are lifting 0.9 mt a year of Cairn crude for Panipat refinery. Once the coker unit is commissioned we will buy another 0.6 mt of Mangala crude,” said, Mr B.N. Bankapur, Director (Refineries), IOC.

From November IOC will be lifting crude at the rate of 1.5 mt a year from Cairn, he said. Crude oil from Cairn India's Rajasthan fields is being soldat a 10-15 per cent discount against the Brent price. The last 15 days average of Brent was at $ 83.41 a barrel.

Expansion plans

IOC is also exploring the option of expanding the capacity of its Koyali refinery from the current 13.7 mt to anywhere between 16 -18 mt. “Currently a feasibility study is being done. In another 3-4 months we would be able to take an in-principle decision on whether we will expand the refinery capacity,” Mr Bankapur said.

As regards the expansion of the Mathura Refinery from the current 8 mt to 11 mt , he said that the company is waiting for the Supreme Court to give a go ahead. The expansion of the industrial units in the areas close to the Taj Mahal including in Mathura has been restricted to avoid damages to the monument due to environmental reasons.

On the grassroots refinery at Paradip, he said, “The refinery will start commercial production in March 2012 with the commissioning of the first phase. By November 2012 the entire 15 mt refinery will operate and stabilise at full capacity.”

The total cost of the Paradip Refinery project is Rs 32,000 crore. This includes Rs 29,777 crore for refinery, Rs 1,793 crore for product pipeline and Rs 414 crore for marketing terminal. When asked whether the refinery will be used for exports market, he said, “Initially the refinery was conceptualised as an export unit, but with domestic demand growing and exports reducing we will first cater to the domestic market.”