Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) on Wednesday announced its intention to enhance the capacity of the just commissioned Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh to nine million tonnes.
The six-million tonne a year unit was commissioned in January and will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 20, BPCL Chairman and Managing Director R. K. Singh told reporters here.
The project is being built by Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd. (BORL), a joint venture between BPCL and Oman Oil Co (OOC), at a cost of Rs.11,397 crore. “We are looking at expanding the capacity to nine million tonnes in the first phase. Under this, capacity of existing equipment will be raised, a process that may take up to three years and may cost about Rs.2,000 crore. When we take a maintenance turnaround in three years, we plan to hook-up the expanded equipment,'' he said.
Mr. Singh said in the second phase, the Bina refinery capacity would be taken up to 15 million tonnes.
BORL Managing Director U. N. Joshi said the company planned to come out with an initial public offering (IPO) when the market conditions were right. Post-IPO, BPCL would hold 49 per cent stake in BORL, while OCC would have 26 per cent.
Mr. Singh said Bina would initially process crude oil imported from Saudi Arabia. “The refinery is designed to process Saudi crude and we have tied up 2.5-3 million tonnes of crude from Saudi,'' he added.
