Indian Oil to expand the capacity of its smallest refinery

According to Reuters, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is planning to make an investment worth $5.5 billion to increase the capacity of its smallest refinery co-owned by Iran. The capacity will be raised to 300,000 barrels a day to be able to meet the increasing demand for refined products, the company’s chairman said.

In the first place, the oil processing capacity of the Nagapattinam plant, which is in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, will be increased to 120,000-180,000 barrels a day and then to 300,000 barrels a day, the reports reveal. IOC is also reported to be planning to increase the capacity of its Panipat refinery in northern India by 30% to 2.08 barrels a day.

India is forecast to have the largest share in world energy demand growth in the following years. It has consumed 183 MMt of refined products since last year, the data showed, and it is building new refineries as well as expanding the existing ones.