Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) announced that its board has approved an investment of INR32,946 crore (USD4.5 billion) to expand the capacity of Panipat Refinery. IOC, along with subsidiary Chennai Petroleum, controls about a third of India’s five million-barrels-per-day (bpd) oil refining capacity.

The investment will boost the capacity of the refinery,  IOC’s seventh and the technically most advanced public sector refinery complex located in the historic district of  Panipat, Haryana, India, to 25 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA), from 15 MMTPA. 

IOC plans to commission the Panipat Refinery expansion project by September 2024. 

The capacity expansion would improve the operational flexibility of the refinery to meet the domestic energy demand and would also enhance the petrochemicals intensity, IOC said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)

The company would also install a polypropylene unit and a catalytic dewaxing unit in Panipat Refinery, the latest base oil project to be announced in India. 

Group II and Group III base stocks are produced from feeds by hydroprocessing and catalytic dewaxing. Both base oil groups share the same low sulfur and high saturates characteristics. 

“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,” state-owned oil company said in its BSE filing.