Nagarjuna Oil Corporation (NOC) will commission its Rs.6,960-crore Cuddalore refinery in Tamil Nadu by the end of 2011, Managing Director S. Ram Mohan said here on Monday.
“The refinery is 40 per cent complete and we are targeting commissioning by end 2011,'' he said on the sidelines of the Petrotech-2010 conference here.
He said the six-million tonne a year refinery would start processing crude oil in December 2011 and achieve full commissioning by March 2012.
NOC had tied-up with British energy major BP for sourcing crude oil that would be processed at the refinery. BP would also be responsible for export of 25 per cent of fuel produced at the unit, he said. “The remaining product will be sold domestically. We have signed with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for selling four million tonnes of products to meet demand in that region,'' he said.
Located 200-km South of Chennai on the East Coast, the refinery will have associated marine infrastructure including single-point mooring (for crude oil handling in large crude carriers) and jetty (for finished product handling). It will have high complexity factor designed to take advantage of processing heavy and sour crude oil.
It will produce Euro IV and Euro V auto fuels, LPG and bitumen. The project site is spread over 1,600 acres, which includes 300 acres of greenbelt. Nagarjuna Fertilizer holds 51 per cent stake in the project while Tata Petrodyne, a unit of the Tata Group, has 30 per cent. The Tamil Nadu government holds 5 per cent through TIDCO, Uhde of Germany 4 per cent and the Cuddalore Port the remaining 10 per cent.
