State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today signed a rupee term loan agreement for Rs 14,900 crore with a consortium of 21 lenders led by State Bank of India.
The term loan facility is for funding the setting up of 15 million metric tonnes per annum grass roots refinery project at Paradip, Orissa at an approved cost of Rs 33,504 crore.
IOC plans to commission the refinery in the first quarter of 2012. The board had earlier split the refinery cum petrochemical complex into two, deciding to do the refinery first and the chemical unit later.
Paradip refinery is being configured to process the toughest, heaviest and the most dirtiest crudes which are cheaper than the cleaner and easier varieties. The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 15.
IOC’s scrip was up 2.46 per cent at Rs 434.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.