51 mt of new refinery capacity in 5 years

BHATINDA, JUNE 2. Over 51 million tonnes of crude oil refinery capacity, including over 16 million tonnes in the private sector, would be added in the next 4-5 years, the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr. Ram Naik, said here today.

``'Total refining capacity would be increased to 163.8 million tonnes from the present 112 million tonnes in the next couple of years to make the country self sufficient in refinery products,'' Mr. Naik said at the foundation laying ceremony of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's (HPCL) nine million tonne Punjab Refinery at Phulokhari village, 50 km from here.

Self-sufficiency would mean that the country would not import products except for some small quantities of kerosene and LPG, he said.

Besides HPCL's Punjab refinery, which has been named after Guru Gobind Singh, two major grassroots refineries were being set up by public sector oil companies. The refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh being set up by Bharat Petroleum Corporation, would have a capacity of six million tonnes and would cost Rs. 5,200 crores, while the nine million tonne Paradeep refinery in Orissa, being set up by Indian Oil Corporation, would cost Rs. 8,300 crores, Mr. Naik said.

The Guru Gobind Singh refinery, being set up at a cost of Rs. 9,800 crores, would be commissioned in 48 months, he said adding the project envisaged laying of a 1,006 km long crude oil pipeline from Mundhra in Gujarat to the project site.

Spread over 2,000 acres of land the refinery includes a crude oil terminal and single buoy mooring facilities at Mundhra in Gujrat.

The refinery would incorporate state-of-the-art technology with various processing units and a captive power plant and would produce a wide variety of products such as diesel, kerosene, motor gasoline, naphtha, LPG coke and aviation fuel.

Stating that the country's import bill of about 58 million tonnes crude oil was around Rs. 57,000 crores in 1999-2000, he said, ''We are striving at achieving self-sufficiency in crude oil production and would be offering more oil blocks under the new exploration licensing policy during October-December this year.'' Twentytwo contracts had already been signed for oil exploration in two onshore, 13 offshore and seven deep water offshore sites, Mr. Naik added.

Earlier, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, said the HPCL's inland refinery would cater to the demand of the region which was expected to touch nearly 47 million tonnes by 2006-07.

''The implementation of the refinery project was delayed due to backing out of the joint venture partner and the Subsequent delays in getting the environmental and other statutory clearances,'' he added.

- PTI

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