BPCL gets tax break on Bina project

State-run oil refining and marketing company, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), has received tax concessions worth Rs 250 crore a year for its Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh, which processes 120,000 barrels per day, said Ashok Sinha, chairman, BPCL.

He said that the company had received a 15-year sales tax waiver for the project from the state government.

"Our discussions with the Madhya Pradesh government for tax concessions have been fruitful," he said, speaking at the annual general meeting of the company in Mumbai.

BPCL is also planning the extention of the Mumbai-Indore pipeline to Delhi with tap off points at Kota, Mathura and Piyala. The the cost of the project is estimated at Rs 80,000 lakh.

This would help us meet the requirements of our important northern region markets at an economical cost. The refinery is also putting up a project to manufacture lube oil-based stock. These projects would be completed by next year.

Further, the Mumbai refinery has recently commissioned the hydrocracker unit, the last part of the Refinery Modernisation Project (RMP).

After stabilisation of this unit, BPCL would be able to process 12 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) of crude oil in this refinery.

This is expected to bring in more flexibility and would allow the use of a higher percentage of cheaper heavy-sour crude oils. "In the current situation of strong refining margins and high crude costs, the additional capacity, as well as the ability to process cheaper crude oils, would help the refinery earn better margins," Sinha said.