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Pradhan launches work on IOC Octomax unit

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has laid the foundation stone of country’s first-of-its-kind Octomax unit at the Mathura refinery that will help in the production of high-octane gasoline.

Octomax, a “novel technology” developed in-house by Research and Development Centre of Indian Oil, involves conversion of cracked C4 streams to high-octane gasoline blending stock for production of Euro-IV/V equivalent gasoline. The refinery will setup a plant of 55 kta capacity at an estimated cost of Rs 43 cr and is expected to be completed by October 2017.

“The unit at Mathura refinery will be the first-of-its- kind in India addressing the emerging scenario in petroleum refining,” an official statement said. The unit on Octomax technology has been conceptualised and designed based on indigenous efforts. Minister of State (Independent Charge) Petroleum and Natural Gas Pradhan said this is in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make In India’ mission. “Mathura refinery will play major role in meeting government’s target of introducing BS-VI standards in petrol and diesel by 2020,” he said. “The plan is to further increase the capacity of Mathura Refinery to 11.0 mmt/yr at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore but it depends on Uttar Pradesh government facilitating the refinery by withdrawing five per cent entry tax,” he said. Pradhan said he would personally meet UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on the issue. MLA Raj Kumar Rawat, Director (Refineries)  Sanjiv Singh, Director (R&D) B P Das, Executive Director (HR) A K Chowdhury and General Manager ( I/ C) Srikant Vaidhya were also present on the occasion. Mathura Refinery is the Modern Temple of Mathura which provides fuel to entire northern India, which is very strategic for the development and security of the country.The 6 mmtpa Mathura Refinery was inaugurated on 19 th January, 1982. With its present refining capacity of 8 mmtpa the Mathura refinery produces major petroleum products like petrol, diesel, kerosene, ATF, LPG etc, Pradhan said.

In order to ensure increased production of LPG IndianOil’s own technology of Indmax has been implemented at Guwahati and Paradip Refineries and same is being now implemented at Bongaigaon Refinery. This is a great tribute to the Prime Minister’s Make in India call, added Pradhan.

Minister also paid a visit to IndianOil - Mathura Swarna Jayanti Samudaik Hospital which is an initiative of IOCL for providing healthcare facilities to the community. Two mobile dispensaries was also set up to provide primary medical care in the nearby 10 villages.
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