World's largest oil refinery to be built by Indian PSUs
Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Engineers India Ltd., will build a mega refinery with a cumulative capacity of 60 million metric tones per annum. The refinery, worth Rs.1.5 lakh crores, will be built over 2 phases (Phase-I 40 MTPA & Phase-II 20 MTPA). Likely to be located in Maharashtra, it will cater to the markets of Western and Southern India.
What is a refinery?
A petroleum refinery processes crude oil extracted from the ground into refined products such as diesel, naptha, petol, kerosene, liquified petroleum gas, etc. A refinery complex is a sprawling industrial area with extensive piping. India, with 17 refineries in public sector and 5 refineries in private sector, is self sufficient in refining and has a refining capacity of 215 MMTPA as of April 2014.
India boosts of the largest refinery in the world
Reliance's twin refinery complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat is the largest refinery complex in the world with a total refining capacity of 54 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum).
Why does India need such a refinery?
At a time when private investment is not forthcoming, public sector investments will provide a much needed boost to the economy and create about 1 lakh jobs. Moreover, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), India's oil demand will go up from present 172 to 432 MMTPA by 2040. If the refining capacity is not augmented then India may end up importing products.
Features of the proposed refinery
The refinery, located on the west coast will rival Reliance's Jamnagar refinery located in Gujarat. Owing to closer distance, it will process crude from Middle East and Africa. Experts assess that a refinery of such scale may take around 6-10 years to construct and operationalize. It will be 4 times larger than the present largest public sector refinery in the country.
Refined products from the mega refinery
"The refinery will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for petrochemical plants in plastic, chemical and textile industries in Maharashtra," - Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas.
