HPCL puts Vizag facility expansion on backburner

Public sector Hindustan Petroleum Corporation's (HPCL) Visakhapatnam refinery expansion project will not be taken up before three years, said SV Sahni, executive director, central engineering and projects, today.

"First we are going to set up the other units necessary to meet Euro-IV requirements. Only after that, the expansion will be taken up. I don't see it happening before three years," he said on the sidelines of an industry conference.

The company has been planning to double the capacity of its Vizag refinery to 15 mln tn since a long time. The expansion was initially to be completed by end 2010, reports said.

The company now plans to expand capacity by 2015, entailing investment of up to Rs 11,000 crore, Sahni said. It is also planning a diesel hydro treating unit alongside the refinery.

Work on the unit will start soon and is likely to be completed by Mar 2011 with investment of Rs 2,500 crore, Sahni said.

HPCL will also set up a delayed cocker and mild hydro cracker unit in the refinery at an investment of Rs 4500 crore.

"All these projects were stalled due to non-availability of land, which has now been resolved after we bought nearly 400 acres from Vizag port," Sahni said. Orders for machinery and other works for these projects have already been placed, Sahni said.

Hindustan Petroleum will bid for oil and gas blocks under the seventh round of National Exploration and Licensing Policy with Mittal Investments and Oil and Natural Gas, said Sahni.

"We are evaluating the blocks and will take a decision soon on how many of them we will bid for," he said.