Rs.4000 crore to be invested to upgrade Paradip refinery

The foundation stone for the Paradip refinery was laid in 2000 by the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Located on the eastern coast of Odisha, it was commissioned in 2015 at a cost of Rs.34,555 crore.

The refinery has many first time technological features to ensure environmentally friendly operations such as flue gas desulphurisation facilities, vapor recovery system from jetty loading etc.

Paradip refinery owned by IOCL started production in October 2015.

The 1st product dispatch from the refinery was flagged off by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dhharmendra Pradhan in November 2015.

Accoding to IOCL, it plans to take production of refinery to 80% of its capacity by the end of fiscal year 2017.

The betel cultivators of the Kujanga villages in Jagatsinghpur district have complained of poisonous gas from Paradip refinery affecting betel veins.

The betel leaves are observed with burning symptoms and premature falling.

However, the Paradip refinery authority has said that they have drawn an environment management plan and are monitoring ambient air quality, which has not reported an additional pollution load on the environment.

Indian Oil will upgrade its Paradip Refinery to meet the Euro VI norms to be adopted by the country from 2020.

Refinery, initially designed to produce Euro IV and V compliant fuels, will add facilities like isomerisation, diesel hydrotreater, and a hydrogen unit to produce Euro VI compliant fuel.

The refinery will primarily cater to eastern and southern Indian markets.