Indian Oil raises refinery operations to 60% of design capacity

With the demand for petroleum products gradually picking up, Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) has re-started several process units at its refineries that were down due to the lockdown. With throughputs gradually picking up pace, the refineries are currently operating at about 60% of their design capacities with plans to scale up to 80% of the design levels by the end of the month.

Similarly, IndianOil has resumed manufacture of petrochemical intermediates like HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and Polypropylene at its Panipat complex. With the demand for these grades likely to increase even further in the coming days, the Naphtha Cracker as well as the MEG (Mono-ethylene-glycol) plant at Panipat are back in operation. The Polypropylene plant at Paradip too will resume operations in a couple of days and other polymer units are also being readied to go online this month itself.  The revival of the Panipat Naphtha cracker will also facilitate further increase in refinery crude oil throughputs.

Even though the nationwide lockdown had severely impacted the entire value chain of petroleum products, IndianOil has kept all its refinery units on ‘hot’ standby to be ready for scale-up to higher through puts once the product demand picks up.