Indian Oil to invest over Rs 21K cr in Bihar

Patna: Indian Oil Corp (IOC) — the nation’s top oil firm — will invest over Rs 21,000 crore to expand the Barauni refinery in Bihar as well as in setting up a city gas distribution network, a senior executive said on Thursday.

IOC is expanding its Barauni refinery to 9 million tonnes per annum from current 6 million tonnes together with a petrochemical plant at a cost of about Rs 16,000 crore and invest another Rs 5,600 crore in setting up network to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households and industries in 27 cities of Bihar, company Executive Director Suman Kumar said while speaking at the Bihar Business Connect 2024 investor summit here.

“IOC is the oldest investor in Bihar, setting up the Barauni refinery in 1964. The initial capacity was 3 million tonnes per annum which was later expanded to 6 million tonnes. Now we are expanding the capacity from 6 million tonnes to 9 million tonnes per annum. Alongside, a 200,000 tonnes polypropylene is also being set up,” he said.