The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) board has approved the proposal to expand the capacity of Panipat Refinery from 15 MMTPA to 25 MMTPA. The board also approved the Polypropylene Unit and Catalytic Dewaxing Unit at an estimated cost of Rs.32,946 Crore and the project is expected to be commissioned by September 2024. After the expansion, the refinery will use the additional output to cater to the demand of Northern and Western India.
“The capacity expansion would improve the operational flexibility of the Refinery to meet the domestic energy demand and would also enhance the petrochemicals intensity. The increased production of petrochemicals and value added specialty products would not only improve the margins but also de-risk the conventional fuel business of the company,” said the IOC release.
The Panipat Refinery can process a wide range of both indigenous and imported grades of crude oil. Setup with an initial installed capacity of 6.0 MMTPA in 1998, the refinery has a current capacity of 15 MMTPA using world-class technology from Axens France; Haldor-Topsoe, Denmark; UNOCAL/UOP, USA; Stone & Webster, USA; Lummus Global, USA and Technip, Netherlands.
The refinery’s secondary processing units include Catalytic Reforming Unit, Once Through Hydrocracker unit, Resid Fluidised Catalytic Cracking unit, Visbreaker unit, Bitumen blowing unit, Sulphur block and a Diesel Hydro Desulphurisation Unit (DHDS).
IOC owns and operates the 132 km long Dadri-Panipat Natural Gas Pipeline (DPPL) which is interconnected with (Gas Authority India Limited) GAIL’s Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur Pipeline (HVJPL) / Dahej-Vijaipur Pipeline (DVPL) network at Dadri.
