ONGC Tatipaka refinery gross revenue at Rs 132.67 cr

The Tatipaka facility refined 91,577 metric tonnes of value-added products including naptha, SKO, high-speed diesel (HSD) and low sulphur heavy stock (LSHS) in 2004-05, as compared to 90,369 metric tonnes in 2003-04. This is 139 per cent more than its operating capacity of 2,000 barrels of oil per day.

The mini-refinery, set up with just Rs 30 crore at Tatipaka in the Konaseema region, refines 260 tonnes of crude oil, 100 tonnes of naptha, 70 tonnes of kerosene, 50 tonnes of diesel and 30 tonnes of reduced crude oil a day. Its designed capacity is 0.066 million metric tonnes of crude oil a year.

Speaking to Business Standard, C Lal, ONGC asset manager, said, "The corporation had drilled more than 400 wells in the K-G basin and pressed into service as many as eight rigs and two offshore rigs. Prominent oil fields in the K-G basin include Lingala, Kaikalur, Mori, Kesanapalli, Kesanapalli west, Suryaraopet and Gopavaram."

According to Lal, the mini-refinery was set up to overcome the risk involved in oil transportation to Visakhapatnam as well as Chennai and also to make available the petro-products to the people of Konaseema region.

The oil condensate from gas fields amounts to about 800 tonnes per day. The recent oil discoveries made in Suryaraopet and Gopa-varam have opened up promising avenues for future exploration, exploitation and for upgradation of the refinery's capacity, Lal said.