The world's biggest oil refinery -cum-petrochemical complex planned in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra will cost Rs 2.7 lakh crore and take 60 months to build, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.
State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) are building the integrated complex with a refining capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum at Babulwadi, Taluka Rajapur, Ratnagiri district.
"The proposed refinery will produce gasoline (petrol) and diesel suitable for BS-VI (equivalent to Euro-VI emission norms). The refinery will be designed with flexibility in processing wide varieties of crude as well as flexibility in product mix," the minister said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
The three firms on June 14 signed a joint venture agreement to form a company, West Coast Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd for implementation of the project.
"Order of magnitude of cost estimated for the project is Rs 2.70 lakh crore and the share of IOC, BPCL and HPCL is in ratio of 50:25:25 respectively," he said.
The refinery will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for making petrochemicals that are basic building blocks in plastic, chemical and textile industries.
Pradhan said the project will take 60 months to complete from the date of approval and receipt of all statutory clearances.
In addition, oil PSUs have also planned to increase the refining capacity in the country by 35 million tonnes (MT) in next few years to meet the domestic demand of petroleum products, he said without giving details.
India, the world's third largest energy consumer after US and China, has a refining capacity of 232.066 MT, which exceeded the demand of 194.2 MT in 2016-17.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), this demand is expected to reach 458 MT by 2040.
Besides the West Coast Refinery and brownfield expansion, a new 9 MT unit is planned at Barmer in Rajasthan.
Fifteen million tonnes a year is the biggest refinery any public sector unit has set up in one stage. IOC recently started its 15 MT unit at Paradip in Odisha.
Reliance Industries holds the distinction of building the biggest refinery in India till now.
It built its first refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat with a capacity of 27 MT, which was subsequently expanded to 33 MT. It has built another unit adjacent to it for exports, with a capacity of 29 MT.
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