IndianOil gets okay to acquire 75 acres to up Vadodara ops

Indian Oil has received a green signal from the Gujarat government to acquire 75 acres of land in three villages in the state to begin the expansion of its refinery near here which will increase its overall capacity to 18 MTPA, a top official said here on Thursday.

"We have received a go-ahead from the state government to acquire 73 acres from three nearby villages a few days back.

This will enable us to begin the Rs 10,000 crore expansion plan of the Gujarat refinery," IOC Executive Director Sudhir Kumar said.

The expansion will involve the company setting up new units which will increase the overall capacity to 18 MTPA (metric tonnes per annum) from 13.7 MTPA now, he added.

Kumar did not divulge as to how much money it will cost for the company to acquire the land. He also did not say when the process will begin.

In fact, the refinery was looking to 130 acres for the project and the proposal has been pending with the government for the past many years now. The state first allowed IOC to acquire of 55 acres in the first phase several years ago.

Kumar said the capacity expansion will include new units like mother unit, IndMax, AVU (atmospheric & vacuum distillation unit) of 9 MTPA along with few a upgrade of secondary units.

He also said Gujarat Refinery, set up in 1966, making it one of the oldest facilities in the country, will soon be investing Rs 2,770 crore to upgrade its diesel treating and hydro-treating units to meet BS-VI norms.

The refinery, which has 40 units producing 30 products, has already invested Rs 1,315 crore in two phases to upgrade its three diesel treating and hydro-treating units to make it compatible to make 100 per cent BS-IV diesel and petrol from this month, Kumar said.

The refinery will have to invest an additional Rs 2,770 crore to upgrade its equipment and machinery to produce BS-VI fuel from April 2020, he added.

It can be noted that earlier Gujarat government was planning to acquire the land for the project and had last July began a social impact assessment for the same in three villages -- Koyali, Karachiya and Bajva-- under the state's new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013 for public purpose.

The Gujarat Refinery is located at Koyali village on the city outskirts, and is spread across 1,950 acres, which includes Asoj and Dumad terminals.