IOC, BPCL, HPCL to Set World’s Largest Oil Refinery with Investment of $40 Bn

The Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum today signed an agreement in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Oil and Natural Gas, to jointly set up the world's largest refinery and petrochemical complex at Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra at a cost of Rs three lakh crore.

As per the agreement, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will be the lead partner with 50 per cent stake while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will take 25 per cent stake each.

According to the agreement this new complex is supposed to get competed by 2022.
Addressing the gathering at a signing ceremony here, IOC, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said this will be the largest refinery complex in the world which will enable India to dictate its terms and regulate the pricing in the world market.

He said,"the 60 million tonnes capacity refinery will come up at Babulwadi, Rajapur in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra which is very close to the coast. It is is being set up keeping in mind the future fuel demand and the export potential of the country as we do not remain to be a consumer oriented country. We want to look out for other markets too."

The refinery will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for making petrochemical that are basic building blocks in plastic, chemical and textile industries.

India has a refining capacity of 232.066 million tonnes, which exceeded the demand of 194.2 million tonnes in 2016-17 fiscal. According to the International Energy Agency (EA), this demand is expected to reach 458 million tonnes by 2040.

IOC has 11 refineries with a total capacity of 81.2 million tonnes while BPCL has four refineries with a total capacity of 33.4 million tonnes. HPCL has three refineries with a total capacity of 24.8 million tonnes.

Mr Pradhan said India has become world's third largest energy consumer leaving Japan behind. Only USA and China, are ahead of us.
He said, "Domestic oil demand is likely to climb to 500 million tonnes by 2040. Against this, our domestic refining capacity currently is 230-235 million tonnes. We need to plan capacity addition to not just meet this demand but also of export market."