The board of directors of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has approved setting up of the 15 million tonne refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at Paradip in Orissa.The project, consisting of a 15 million tonne per annum capacity refinery and facilities for production of petrochemicals including paraxylene, polypropylene and styrene, together with a product pipeline from the refinery to Ranchi was cleared by the board recently."Giving the go-ahead for the refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex, the board has sanctioned over Rs 1,100 crore for the initial activities for the project including technology selection, basic engineering design and site development activities," an official release said today.IOC has already installed a large crude oil terminal along with single point mooring terminal on the coast for handling very large crude carriers for itsrefineries at Haldia and Barauni, and the same terminal will be expanded for receipt and handling of crude oil for the Paradip refinery.The site for the project, consisting of over 3,000 acre of land, was acquired by IOC a few years back and has been fully developed.IOC had earlier planned to install a 9 million tonne refinery at the same location. "However, considering the demand for fuel and petrochemical products in the domestic and export markets, the capacity has been enhanced to 15 million tonne to derive benefits of economies of scale," the release added.