IOC’s 34500 crore Paradeep Refinery commissioned; to boost IOC’s production capacity

PSU oil major, Indian Oil has commissioned its new flagship refinery at coastal town Paradeep in Odisha at a capex of Rs 34555 crore. This state of the art refinery has on Sunday dedicated to nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This refinery has been touted to change the whole dynamics in Indian hydrocarbon space and would be first such refinery on the eastern coast.

On the capacity front, refinery will manufacture 78 crore kg of LPG, 660 crore litres of diesel, 250 crore litres of kerosene and ATF in addition to 27 lakh quintal of sulphur, 500 crore litres of petrol, and 120 lakh quintal of petroleum coke. Boasting about the mammoth capacity that this refinery would have, the PM said, “You can imagine how much these products will give momentum to economic development. LPG from the refinery will replace firewood in rural households. One hour of cooking on firewood subject rural women to smoke equivalent to 400 cigarettes. We are trying that the poor get LPG gas cylinders to give them freedom from smoke.”

Government has planned to reduce the oil import dependence by 10 per cent and for this a comprehensive strategy has been adopted. This refinery is in accordance with that plan and by 2022 dependence on imports would be reduced on sustainable basis with increase in use of bio fuels like ethanol produced from sugarcane and diesel from Jatropha. Importantly India spent $ 112.7 billion on import of 189.4 MT of crude oil in financial year 2014-15.

In his address, the PM said Paradip will now become ‘Vikas Dweep,’ the island of development for the people of Odisha. Youth would benefit from employment opportunities and poor women across the country who depended on firewood for fuel, would get access to LPG.