Indian Oil to Invest ₹ 1 lakh Cr over Next 5 Years
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), an Indian Government-owned integrated Oil company, plans to invest close to ₹ 1 lakh crore over the next five years as announced by IOCL’s Chairman Mr. Shrikant Madhav Vaidya during IOCL’s 62nd Annual General Meeting held on 27th August 2021.
With this investment Indian Oil plans increase its refining capacity by over 25 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA).
India’s Fuel Demand
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya mentioned in his address that Indian fuel demand is expected to touch nearly 450 MMPTA by 2040, nearly double the current consumption level of 250 MMPTA. Thus the announcement is in line with the expected increase in India’s fuel demand over next several years.
Indian Oil’s Road Map for Expansion
IOCL plans to utilize the investment of ₹ 1 lakh crore in the next 4-5 years for capacity expansion in projects across existing facilities owned by both Indian Oil and its subsidiary, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (CPCL).
Currently, IOCL operates 11 refineries producing various petroleum products such as petrol and diesel with a cumulative capacity of 81.2 MMTPA.
The company plans to increase capacity at its following facilities:
Koyali Refinery at Vadodara has a Crude Oil processing capacity of 4.3 MMPTA. The plan is to set up a petrochemical-lube integration project which will increase crude processing capacity of the refinery by another 13.7 MMTPA, for a total capacity of 18 MMTPA.
Panipat Refinery in Haryana has a capacity to turn 15 MMTPA of Crude Oil into value-added fuels such as Petrol, Diesel, ATF. The plan is to set up chemical units at Panipat refinery, which shall increase the capacity from 15 MMTPA to 25 MMTPA. Along with this capacity addition, IOCL also plans to install polypropylene unit and catalytic dewaxing unit at Panipat refinery.
IOCL also has plans for capacity expansions at its refineries located at Guwahati and Barauni. A greenfield refinery with 9 MMTPA capacity is to be built at Cauvery Basin at Nagapattinam through a joint venture with 50% to be held by Indian Oil and CPCL jointly and remaining to be held by financial/strategic/public investors. The existing Cauvery Basin Refinery of 1 MMTPA will be desmantled.
These expansions will take IOCL’s refining capacity to 106.7 MMTPA.
About Indian Oil Corporation Limited: IOCL (or Indian Oil) is India’s largest refining company. IOCL owns and operates 11 of India’s 20 refineries. Besides, the corporation supplies Indane Gas to over 47.5 million households through a network of 4990 Indian distributors. IOCL is headquartered in New Delhi.
