IOC to invest Rs 1.5 trillion in seven years

Coimbatore: Indian Oil Corp will make an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, including Rs 50,000 crore for expanding its existing brownfield refineries, in the next five to seven years, a top company official said Friday.

The company has planned expansion of 10 refineries, infrastructure and other facilities, considering the future demand for energy, IOCL Chairman B Ashok told while adressing a press conference here.

The capacity of its existing Gujarat refinery will be increased to 18 million tonnes from the present 13.7 mt, Mathura to eight million tonnes in two phases, Panipat to 20 mt from the present 15 million tonnes and Barauni to nine million tonnes in two phases from the present six million tonnes, Ashok said.

Besides, the new refinery in Paradip, with a capacity of 11 million tonnes, will commence operation by November, which would lead to Indian Oil refineries holding over 35 percent share of the national refining capacity and more than 50 percent market share in petroleum products retail.

Ashok was here to declare the Indian Oil petrol pumps in Coimbatore and Tirupur as fully automated ones and said, of the nearly 25,000 outlets under Indian Oil, 7,700 have been automated.