Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), which earlier decided to commission its nine million tonne refinery project in Ratnagiri before completing work on its Rajasthan project, has reversed the plan.
Media reports suggest that the company finds it meaningful to expedite its recently planned Rajasthan project.
The firm feels that Rajasthan project could be completed faster than Ratnagiri which is likely to face delays thanks to a slew of environmental clearances required in a ‘sensitive coastal location’.
Since both projects have been planned with capacities of nine mn t, it would not impact HPCL’s refining targets over the next four years, the company feels.
HPCL had earlier planned to commission the Ratnagiri (called the Maharashtra Refinery) plant by 2016 whose capacity would be doubled in due course of time.
By 2016-17, the company aims to have 42 mn t capacity in place which will be perfectly in sync with the size of its retail network.
At present, the total refining capacity is nearly 24 mn t from its three refineries in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Bhatinda.
Over the next four years, the company plans to double the output at Visakhapatnam to 18 mn t which will then become HPCL’s single largest facility. The Bhatinda and Rajasthan refineries will be tied at nine mn t each while Mumbai will continue at 6.5 mn t.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.