Panipat Oil Refinery, India

Indian Oil Company's seventh refinery is located at Panipat, 125km from Delhi, in the state of Haryana in Northern India. The main units of the facility are a once-through-hydrocracker (OHCU), a residual fluid catalytic cracker and a continuous catalytic reformer unit, as well as other secondary treatment units.

The Panipat refinery was constructed and commissioned in 1998 with an investment of Rs38.68bn, which included the costs of marketing and pipeline installations. The refinery has a capacity of 12mtpa, which will be expanded to 15mtpa by 2010.

Diesel hydro desulphurisation unit

In July 1999, the Panipat refinery commissioned its diesel hydro desulphurisation unit (DHDS) for the production of extra low sulphur diesel with a sulphur content of less than 0.25% weight.

When completed, the refinery will be the second unit in the country to be commissioned, the first being the unit at the Gujarat refinery, which was commissioned on 12 June 1999. When the commissioning was formalised, it meant that the refinery became the fastest commissioned DHDS plant in the country.

Saudi Aramco, National Iranian Oil Company and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company have shown a keen interest in picking up a stake in the east India refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The companies are understood to have initiated discussions with IOC to take a 26% equity stake in the project.

IOC's original partner was Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, however, it withdrew from the project. IOC decided to go ahead with the project on its own. At the time of negotiations, KPC reexamined the proposal in light of the Asian financial crisis, fearing that a joint venture may not be profitable.

Panipat refinery expansion

In September 2008, IOC announced its plan for expanding the Panipat oil refinery's capacity to 15mtpa with an investment of Rs8,060m. Earlier, around Rs41.65bn was invested by the company to increase the refinery to 12mtpa. The expansion project was commissioned in mid 2006.

The 15mtpa expanded units are scheduled to be commissioned by August 2010. The expansion requires 50% closure of the plant, for 40 to 45 days. The project will revamp the capacities of the crude and vacuum distillation units, OHCU and the delayed coking unit. In addition, second-stage reactors will be installed in the diesel hydrotreating unit of the refinery.

Panipat oil refinery project

The DHDS unit at the Panipat oil refinery was constructed at a cost estimated to be approximately Rs3.06m ($65m). The project started after government approval in June 1997, at which point Indian Oil initiated the construction of four DHDS Units at Gujarat, Panipat, Mathura and Haldia refineries, with a total investment of Rs1.776m. These projects were initiated with the aim of reducing the sulphur content from the current level of 1% by weight to 0.25% by weight.

For the first time in India, a fast-track project implementation method called Lumpsum Turn Key was adopted to meet the stringent time schedule for supply of low sulphur diesel.

The process of desulphurisation through DHDS enables the reduction of sulphur content in diesel, resulting in positive environmental protection results in the control of automotive emissions.

The Panipat refinery, which has a capacity of 12mpta, is known for producing high quality, environmentally friendly petroleum products, and has developed a new import substitute, 96 RON gasoline.

IOC plans

IOC planned an capital expenditure of over Rs600bn in July 2009 to expand its refining capacity to 80mtpa by 2011-12. The significant project involves the refinery's capacity expansion to 15mtpa from 12mtpa and an investment of around Rs297.7bn in the 15mtpa refinery of Paradip, as well as other investments.