New Delhi: State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is planning a mega-investment of Rs 1.4 lakh crore in a bid to double its annual production capacity to 3.2 million barrels per day by 2030, said its head of refineries on Saturday. The move has been announced at a time when the Indian oil industry is planning to boost capacity, which would help the country reduce dependency on external sources.
At present, India is the third biggest oil consumer in the world, with considerably high import. The oil industry in the country is trying to reduce this burden by raising their capacity by 7.7 per cent to approximately 8.8 million barrels per day (BPD) by 2030. It may be noted that the demand for oil in the country has been rising steadily, owing to large-scale expansion across various domains of Indian industries and rising population.
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India is currently on a mission to boost its infrastructural capabilities, for which commercial and retail consumers continue to seek increased energy access. In a recently held conference, IOC’s head of refineries BV Rama Gopal said there is a need to enhance capacity to meet future demand. “We have already made our plans for investment of 1.06 trillion rupees.”
It should be noted that the company currently owns and operates 11 out of the country’s 23 refineries, with a total capacity of 80.7 million tonnes per annum. A PTI report quoting Gopal indicated that IOC is investing Rs 16,628 crore for upgrading its refineries to produce Euro-VI emission norm compliant petrol and diesel and the project would be completed by 2020. Additionally, the company is also believed to be investing Rs 15,600 crore for expansion of petrochemical projects and another Rs 74,600 crore for raising the capacity of existing refineries.
Besides, another Rs 36,500 crore worth of projects are in the pipeline but yet to get approval from the company’s board. These include expansion of its recently-commissioned 15-MTPA Paradip refinery in Odisha to 18 MTPA as also the expansion of Bongaigaon unit.
India's current refining capacity of 247.6 MTPA exceeds consumption but with demand growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 3.5-4 per cent, it will need to add more capacity to meet the rising fuel needs. While the Energy Information Agency of US projects India's demand to reach 434 MT by 2040 from 194 MT currently, IEA puts the number between 450 and 492 MT.
IOC plans to raise the capacity of its Panipat refinery in Haryana to 25 MTPA from current 15 MTPA, while Koyali refinery in Gujarat would be expanded to 18 MTPA from 13.7 MTPA. While 3 MT will be added in IOC's Barauni refinery in Bihar, a 1.2-MTPA capacity addition is planned for Uttar Pradesh's Mathura refinery to take its capacity to 9.2 MTPA.
The official said IOC is also looking at adding a 9 MTPA capacity to its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum (CPCL). He said IOC, BPCL, and HPCL are together setting up a new 60 MPTA refinery on the west coast in Maharashtra. Talking of growth drivers, he said IOC is setting up a new unit at its Panipat refinery to manufacture ethanol from refinery off-gases. Ethanol so produced will be used for blending in petrol.
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India is targeting blending of up to 10 per cent ethanol in petrol to cut reliance on imports to meet oil needs. Also, a plant to convert agri-stubble into ethanol is being set up. On alternate energy plans, he said the company plans to take solar power generation capacity to 260 MW by 2020 from current 188 MW.
Source: timesnownews.com