Indian Oil To Invest $4.46 Billion To Increase Panipat Refinery's Capacity To 5 Lakh Barrels Per Day By September 2024

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation is set to invest $4.46 billion to enhance the capacity of its refinery in Haryana's Panipat by two-third quantum to 5,00,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the present 3,00,000 bpd by September 2024, reports Economic Times.

Along with the expansion of the refining capacity, IOC will also be setting up catalytic dewaxing and polypropylene units at the facility to boost the production of value-added speciality products as it looks to improve margins and de-risk the conventional fuel business.

Earlier in 2018, IOC announced capacity expansion of the 300,000 bpd Panipat refinery costing Rs 231 billion.

Meanwhile, Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has also sought 175 acres of land in West Bengal for expanding IOC's 1,60,000 bpd Haldia refinery in a bid to meet the nation's surging energy demand.

IOC and its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited together have an installed refining capacity of 1.6 million bpd. Meanwhile, India as a whole has an installed refining capacity of five million bpd which the government is aiming to expand by 60 per cent.