State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) may turn its Mumbai refinery into a national lubricant blending facility after a new refinery at Ratnagiri, coastal Maharashtra, takes shape.
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“Engineers India Ltd is giving a detailed feasibility report on the new refinery in Ratnagiri by the end of next month. The report will not only provide project details of the new refinery but also look at what good use can the old refinery be put to. An option is to convert it completely into our lubricant blending unit,” said a senior official from HPCL.
HPCL’s Mumbai refinery has the highest lubricant production capacity in India. HPCL has two refineries, at Mumbai and Visakhapatnam (east coast), with capacities of 6.5 million tonnes per annum and 8.3 mtpa, respectively. The Mumbai refinery is spread over 350 acres. The two refineries together upgrade the crude petroleum into many value-added products and over 300 grades of lubricants, specialities and greases.
HPCL has finalised Lote Parshuram in Ratnagiri for setting up a 9-15 mtpa refinery, for which it wants 1,500 acres. “The Mumbai refinery is too old to modernise. We also plan to cater to the increasing fuel demand in the western region,” chairman and managing director Subir Roy Choudhury had told Business Standard.
The company will fund the refinery project partly through internal resources’ generation of Rs 11,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore of loans. “Post environment clearance, the refinery is expected to be ready in about four years,” added Choudhury.
HPCL is also building a nine-mtpa refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab in a joint venture with Lakshmi Mittal. HPCL and Mittal Energy Investments each have 49 per cent stake; financial institutions have the other two per cent.
In the next decade, HPCL is looking at a total refining capacity of nearly 50 mtpa with the Bhatinda, Visakhapatnam and new Maharashtra refinery.
