IOC nears start-up of Paradip refinery; expands FCCU capacity at Mathura

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC) is near to commissioning its long-delayed 300,000-b/d, full-conversion refinery at Paradip, on India’s northeastern coast (OGJ Online, Nov. 16, 2011).

The refinery, which required an investment of about $5 billion, is scheduled to be completed and to begin additional commissioning activities by December, IOC said in a recent presentation to investors.

Some start-up activities at the Paradip refinery began earlier this year, according to posts on IOC’s web site.

Configured to process heavy and high-sulfur crude oil and to produce Euro 5-standard fuels, the Paradip refinery previously was scheduled for commissioning in November 2013 (OGJ Online, Mar. 13, 2013).

Separately, IOC said it has commissioned a newly upgraded fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its 160,000-b/d Mathura refinery. The unit entered service in January, the company said.

At a cost of $167 million, the upgrade project has increased the FCCU’s processing capacity to 30,000 b/d from its previous 20,000 b/d and maximized the refinery’s production of propylene, IOC said.