IOC's Paradip oil refinery work to start from December

Construction of the long-awaited oil refinery project by Indian Oil Corporation at Paradip is likely to begin in December 2009 and beoperational by March 2012, official sources said today.

"The construction of the oil refinery project will start in next five months", Orissa's chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy told reporters after reviewing the progress in the much-sought after project.

The board of directors of IOC, however, decided to go for early commencement of operation at Paradip refinery project by March 2012 instead of its earlier schedule of November 2012.

The construction of the project need to be completed one month prior to operation, they said.

The central public sector which signed an MOU with the state government on February 16, 2004 for setting up an oil refinery, passed through rough weather leading to no progress for a long time.

The meeting attended by representatives of IOC, secretary of industries department, officials of Paradip port trust and Jagatsinghpur district collector, resolved to start construction in December, they said.