State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation’s (HPCL), oil refinery at Visakhapatnam has come under the scrutiny of Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (PCB).
The member secretary of the PCB issued orders to the refinery to restrict the crude processing to 70 percent of the permitted capacity or to process only low sulphur crudes having sulphur content less than 0.5 percent during winter season. The PCB has issued this statement after emissions from the refinery were causing nuisance smell and the emissions were exceeding the standards.
However, it is not possible to cut the production immediately as it depends on crude reserves and imports and the company will request PCB to reconsider their decision. The Vizag refinery processes around 25,000 tonnes of crude per day and was permitted to 11.5 tonnes of sulphur dioxide emission per day.
