State-run IndianOil Corporation is planning to invest Rs 5,000 crore to expand its Koyali refinery in Gujarat from 13.7 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) to a 18-mtpa refinery.
“We are planning to expand the refinery from its present capacity to 18 mtpa. The board will take a decision on the matter soon. We will be investing Rs 5,000 crore for the same and will have to acquire additional land,” a senior IndianOil executive told Business Standard.
He said the feasibility report on the expansion was ready and the company board will take a call within a month. “If the board approves the decision, the expansion may take two-three years,” said another company executive.
The Koyali refinery is spread over 1,424 acres near Ahmedabad. It had expanded capacity to around 4.7 mtpa through revamping earlier. IndianOil was also evaluating another option of expanding the refining capacity by 2.3 mtpa via de-bottlenecking.
The Koyali unit is IndianOil’s largest refinery with a capacity to process 274,000 barrels of crude per day. It was commissioned in 1966 and processes indigenous and imported, low sulphur and high sulphur grades of crude oil.
IndianOil controls 10 of India’s 20 refineries with a group refining capacity is 65.7 mtpa. The capacity will rise to 80.7 million tonnes by 2012 with the commissioning of the 15-million-tonne Paradip refinery in Orissa.