Indian Oil's refineries to operate at 80% capacity
Hindu, Bangalore   12-May-2020

Demand for petroleum products up

With demand for petroleum products gradually picking up, India's largest petroleum retailer 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," said Indian Oil in a statement.

IndianOil has resumed manufacture of petrochemical intermediates like HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and polypropylene at its Panipat complex.

Naptha cracker unit

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) plants at Panipat are back in operation.

The polypropylene plant at Paradip too will resume operations in a couple of days. The other polymer units are being readied to go online this month.

The revival of the Panipat naphtha cracker unit will also facilitate further increase in refinery crude oil throughputs, according to the company.