Indian Oil Corporation to invest over Rs 21,000 crore in Bihar refinery expansion, city gas projects.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) — the nation’s leading oil company — will invest over Rs 21,000 crore to expand the Barauni refinery in Bihar and establish a city-wide gas distribution network, a senior official said on Thursday.
IOC is expanding the Barauni refinery to 9 million tonnes per annum from the current 6 million tonnes and a petrochemical plant at an estimated cost of Rs 16,000 crore and investing another Rs 5,600 crore in setting up a CNG retail network for vehicles and cooking gas piped to. homes and industries in 27 cities in Bihar, said the company’s Managing Director Suman Kumar while addressing the meeting. Bihar Business Connect Investor Conference 2024 here.
“IOC is the oldest investor in Bihar, established the Barauni refinery in 1964. The initial capacity was 3 million tonnes per annum which later expanded to 6 million tonnes. Now we are expanding the capacity from 1 million tonnes to 6 to 9 million tons Along with 200,000 tons of polypropylene,” he said.
Polypropylene will be a raw material for the plastics industry.
The expansion plant and PP are scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2025. Besides, IOC is also investing Rs 5,600 crore in setting up city gas distribution (CGD) network in 27 districts of Bihar, he said.
Earlier, the company, along with its partners, spent Rs 9,512 crore on renovating the Barauni fertilizer plant, starting production of urea in October 2022. The plant was part of the government’s plan to renovate closed urea units and increase availability of domestically produced urea. .
The investment is part of the IOC’s goal of becoming a USD 1 trillion company by 2047, he said.
The USD 110 billion oil major has embarked on an aggressive capital raising plan, proposing to invest over Rs 2 lakh crore over the decade to expand refining capacity, petrochemical integration, integrated infrastructure and renewable energy assets.
As India’s economy grows, the country’s energy needs grow exponentially. As ‘The Energy of India’, the company aims to become the country’s leader, meeting 12.5 percent (1/8th) of India’s energy needs by 2050, he said.
Besides Barauni, the state-owned refiner is expanding the Panipat Refinery from 15 million tonnes to 25 million tonnes per annum and the Gujarat refinery from 13.7 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes, and its integration into production units -lube and petrochemical.
While the first phase of expansion of petchem at Panipat in Haryana and Paradip in Odisha has been completed, the one at Gujarat Refinery is scheduled to be operational by 2024-25.
On the side, it pursues green initiatives, including hydrogen mobility, hydrogen transportation, biofuels, electric mobility, solar cooking facilities, and water footprint reduction.
Oil demand in India, the world’s third largest consumer, is expected to rise from 5.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023 to 9.3 million bpd in 2040. currently 256.8 million tons per year up to 450 million tons.
In addition, the country is set to add 50 GW of renewable electricity annually, aiming to achieve 500 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable capacity by 2030.
