Fire breaks out at Indian Oil’s Paradip refinery in Odisha ahead of inauguration

A fire broke out at Indian Oil’s (IOCL) Paradip refinery in the Indian state of Odisha just a week before its inauguration.

The fire at the 15 million metric tonnes per annum (MMPTA) plant is currently under control and no casualties or damages were reported.

It is believed that the atmospheric vacuum (AV) unit of the refinery caught fire.

The latest news comes after IOCL’s announcement made in January 2015 to invest Rs40bn ($597m) to upgrade the Paradip refinery.

According to sources, the fire engulfed the unit near the refinery’s gate No1 where construction activities were going on.

IOCL plans to carry out an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.

Paradip, which is spread over a total area of 3344 acres, is IOCL’s eleventh refinery and will help to meet the increasing energy demands of India.

The refinery has been designed to process 100% high-sulphur, including 40% low-cost heavy crude oil. It will produce various petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel, propylene, sulphur and petroleum coke.

In February 2016, the company plans to install an alkylation unit at the refinery.

Paradip refinery has over 20 process units and envisages suitable offsite and utility facilities.