Refining Gujarat’s black gold
Ahmedabad   28-Apr-2011

Gujarat Refinery, IndianOil’s (IOC) largest refinery in the country, is a living example of the close ties India shared with Russia after Independence. Russian and Indian engineers jointly prepared a project report for setting up the refinery in October 1961 and Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister, laid foundation stone for the plant May 10, 1963. The refinery was commissioned with Soviet assistance at the cost of Rs 26 crore and went on stream in 1965.

Spread over 1,424 acres of land, the refinery was set up in Vadodara after ONGC set up its base here in 1958. Gujarat Refinery used to process the crude produced b y ONGC and the first crude distillation unit was commissioned for trial production in October 1965. Dr S Radhakrishnan, the then president of India dedicated the refinery to the nation while commissioning the second crude distillation unit in October 1966.

The refinery had an initial installed capacity of 2 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) and was designed to process crude from Ankleshwar, Kalol and Nawagam oilfields of ONGC in Gujarat. The refinery had further modified to handle imported and indigenous crude oil. On an average it processes about 41,500 metric tonnes of crude oil per day.

The refinery, which also converts heavy oil into LPG and naptha, changed the face of the city and brought in rapid industrialisation. It also provided employment opportunities for thousands of locals apart from improving their standard of living. The sprawling township dotted with thousands of trees and a community hall is still one of the most peaceful and greenest places in the city.