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Paradip refinery to achieve financial closure soon

— FILE PHOTO

Scaling up capacity: The newly inaugurated Indian Oil Corporation’s Panipat refinery in Haryana.

NEW DELHI: Venezuela’s State oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) is understood to have shown interest in picking up stake in the 15 million tonne Paradip refinery of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) although the company asserted that it had not got any partner for the refinery project.

“We are not exactly looking for a partner as such for the refinery project. We are looking at somebody who could bring value addition with its investments. The company could take a strategic partner like PDVSA if it gets either an oilfield or crude oil supplies in return. We are looking at sourcing at least 50 per cent of the crude requirement of the new refinery from the strategic partner,” IOC Director (Refineries), B. N. Bankapur, told newsmen during his visit to the Panipat refinery in Haryana.

Stating that the entire project was on schedule, Mr. Bankapur said the Paradip refinery would achieve financial closure within 3-4 months. “We will achieve financial closure for the Rs. 29,777-crore project in the next three to four months,” Mr. Bankapur said. SBI Caps has been mandated to arrange Rs. 14,700-crore debt for the project ruling out induction of a strategic partner for the refinery.

Mr. Bankapur said Paradip refinery was being configured to process the toughest, heaviest and the dirtiest crude. The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 15. (It is an index used to compare refining capability, compiled annually by the Oil & Gas Journal. Refineries are rated on the number of refining units they operate and their technological sophistication.

The higher the figure given to a refinery, the more advanced it is in terms of refining capability.)

Besides, IOC had lined up investment of Rs. 5,882 crore in residue upgrading project at Koyali refinery in Gujarat by January 2010 and another Rs. 2,869 crore in improving yield at its Haldia refinery by December 2009.

The Panipat refinery capacity, he said, was being raised to 15 million tonnes from 12 million tonnes at an investment of Rs. 1,008 crore by December 2009.

Similarly, Haldia refinery capacity is being increased to 7.5 million tonnes from 6 million tonnes at a cost of Rs. 2,869 crore by August 2009. “After all these projects, IOC’s refining capacity will increase to 66.85 million tonnes by the first quarter of 2012 from 47.35 million tonnes,” Mr. Bankapur said.

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