PM inaugurates IndianOil’s 15 mtpa Paradip refinery
8 Feb 2016 12:53 AM GMT
It was a proud day for our national downstream hydrcarbon company Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). On Sunday this titan among the world’s oil and gas giants added another great chapter to its glorious history and glowing present. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation Indian Oil Corp’s Rs 34,555 crore refinery here, that has helped the state-owned firm overtake Reliance Industries to again become country’s top refiner.
The 15 million tons per annum Paradip refinery was built over nearly 16 years. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had on May 24, 2000 laid foundation stone of the ninth plant of IOC. Prior to Paradip, its eight refineries had a cumulative capacity of 54.2 million tons of crude oil. Paradip helped IOC overtake Reliance Industries, which has twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat with a capacity of 62 million tons.
IOC, the nation’s largest oil firm, also has a subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL) which operates refineries with total capacity of 11.50 million tons. Located 140 km from Bhubaneswar, Paradip refinery is one of the most modern refineries in the world which can process cheaper high sulphur heavy crude oils. It as a complexity factor of 12.2. It will produce 5.6 million tons per annum of diesel, 3.79 million tons of petrol and 1.96 million tons of kerosene/ATF.
Besides, 790,000 tons of LPG and 1.21 million tons of petcoke would also be produced, officials said.
Officials said building the refinery was a mammoth task with 2.8 lakh ton of steel, equivalent to 30 Eiffel Towers or about 350 Rajdhani trains, being used in its construction. It has 11.6 lakh cubic meter of concreting equivalent to 3 times volume of Burj Khalifa, Dubai. Pipes running to 2,400 km have been used, which is almost the length of Ganges. A Mercedes-Benz S-Class car can pass through the largest diameter pipeline of 126-inch. The refinery sent out first consignment of products comprising of diesel, kerosene and LPG on November 22 last year.
Presently, Paradip Refinery will produce petrol and diesel of BS-IV quality and later will switch to BS-VI quality to comply with the Auto Fuel Policy. The refinery is also designed to produce Euro-V premium quality Motor Spirit and other green auto fuel variants for export to advanced countries. With a view to earn further value addition, a polypropylene plant is under implementation at a cost of Rs 3,150 crore and is scheduled for completion by 2017-18.
The refinery also has plans to set an Ethylene Recovery Unit /Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) at an estimated cost of Rs 3,800 crore. These units are expected to be completed by 2020-21.
Rs 1 trillion disbursed under MUDRA Yojana, says Modi
Loans worth about Rs 1 lakh crore have been sanctioned to small entrepreneurs under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, emphasising that the government wants youth to be job creators and not job seekers. Speaking at the inauguration of Indian Oil Corp’s (IOC) Rs 34,555-crore Paradip Refinery, Modi said apart from public and private sector, there was a need for developing “personal sector” in which youth can become self sufficient, start businesses and generate new employment avenues.
“We do not want youth of the country to become job seekers, we want that they become job creators so that they give employment to one, two or five people.
“So, under MUDRA Yojana we are giving fund to the youth. We have disbursed about Rs 1 lakh crore. Within such less time, giving so much money to such people is not a small thing,” Modi said.
Under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, which was launched in April last year, loans between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh are provided to small entrepreneurs.
In India, about 65 per cent of the population is below the age of 35 years and for the progress of these youth, there was a need to boost entrepreneurship, Modi said. “We need to create employment opportunities for youth in the country. So, through MUDRA Yojana, we wanted to make the youth self sufficient,” he said, adding that the government is moving ahead with the economic principle to make each individual and every family self sufficient.
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