 "EAC reviews Chennai Petroleum Corp's 9.0 MMTPA project in Tamil Nadu")
: The Expert Appraisal Committee
has reviewed CPCL's proposed 9.0 MMTPA project in Nagapattinam in the State and has sent its recommendations for clearance from the Environment Ministry, a top company official has said.
Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL), an IndianOil Group company, has proposed to set up a 9.0 million metric tonne per annum complex at Cauvery Basin Refinery, Nagapattinam, company Chairman S M Vaidya said while addressing shareholders at the company's 54th annual general meeting.
The project would be an integrated state-of-the art modern refinery cum petrochemical complex, including a propylene unit to start with, he said.
The detailed feasibility report for the project has been completed while the board of directors have recommended the project to the board of IndianOil for "investment approval," he said.
Stating that the project was in line with the growth in demand for petroleum products, he said in view of COVID-19 outbreak, supply-demand outlook was being "reviewed".
"The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests has reviewed our 9 MMTPA (million metric tonne per annum) project proposal and has sent its recommendations for environmental clearance to the Ministry...," he said.
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He said the proximity to highways and coastal location of the refinery were added advantages for the project in the district.
CPCL said it had also spent Rs 10.20 crore under its CSR initiative near the Cauvery Basin Refinery which include adoption of three villages in Nagapattinam district to benefit 1,700 families to improve social, environmental and economic conditions, Vaidya said.
The Cauvery Basin 9 MMTPA Refinery Project would also stand as an anchor for feedstock generation for downstream industries, he added.
On the digital initiatives taken up by the company, he said CPCL was also adopting the new technologies to improve performance.
"These technologies include usage of drones for inspection of pipelines and equipment at heights thus reducing the time taken to complete the jobs," he said.
CPCL was also in the process of identifying opportunities for digitisation of processes and data analytics and artificial intelligence utilisation for better decision making and improving reliability of operations, he added.
The initiative was expected to improve the company's performance and employee productivity, he said.
On measures to reduce carbon footprint, Vaidya said the company already replaced usage of naphtha in some parts of the refinery with environment friendly 'Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG)' to reduce carbon intensity in operations.
"We have also implemented a 50 KW roof-top solar project and are planning to implement an additional solar unit of 70KW," he said.
The Chairman said CPCL achieved capital expenditure of Rs 960.60 crore during the year.
On financials, he said the company's profitability improved during the first quarter of the current financial year with a profit before tax of Rs 430 crore.
"We expect the demand to significantly improve by Q3 of 2020-21. Your company's physical performance continues to be robust, more particularly in terms of distillate yield improvement, optimisation of crude mix and energy efficiency", he said.
CPCL has initiated many measures to improve profitability and reduce operating costs and with good physical performance, he said.
Combined with these new initiatives, he said they were confident of achieving better financial performance during the current financial year.