HPCL recasts plan for Maharashtra refinery

The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation has recast its plans for the Maharashtra refinery scheduled for commissioning near Chiplun (Ratnagiri district) post-2015. Originally conceived as a 15 million tonne project at a capital outlay of Rs 30,000 crore, it will now kick off with a capacity of nine million tonnes and then double capacity to 18 million tonnes. This expansion should happen sometime by 2020.

The oil major's present refining capacity is 14 mt which is nearly evenly balanced between Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. Vizag's capacity will be increased by another 9 mt to 15.5 mt. The Bhatinda (to be commissioned in a few months) and Maharashtra refineries will also be up and running with 9 mt each. The company is targeting a total refining capacity of 41 million tonnes by 2016. HPCL has earmarked Rs 50,000 crore for the next five years which will go into these new refineries and the Vizag expansion.