Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is mulling over setting up another greenfield refinery on the west coast  to meet the rising demand of petroleum and petrochemical products. The refinery with an envisaged capacity of 14-15 million metric tonnes per year (mmpta) is expected to entail an investment of about Rs 15,000-20,000 crore, said government sources in the know of the development.

IOC officials said that it has been on the anvil for quite some time to set up a new refinery on the west coast for a long time now. Presently our focus is on the eastern region. “It is too premature to talk about the new proposed refinery on the west now,” the official said. The current refining capacity of India is about 130 million tones and this demand is rising at about 4 million tones per annum, sources said.

IOC is also in the process of forming a core team to conduct feasibility study and finalise the location of the project. “It could be anywhere in Maharashtra or Gujarat,” he said. IOC would rope in a joint venture partner if the project is finalised. Gujarat Refinery at Koyali in Western India is Indian Oil’s largest refinery. IOC owns and operates 10 of India’s 20 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 60.2 mmpta. These include two refineries of subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. In petrochemicals, Indian Oil is investing Rs 20,000 crore (US $ 4 billion) by the year 2011-12.
Business Standard

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