The board of directors at Indian Oil has approved the expansion of its Gujarat refinery, which will also incorporate units to produce propylene and PP.

The refinery’s crude oil processing capacity will rise from 13.7 million t/y to 18 million t/y in order to meet growing demand in the region. Indian Oil said the installation of a new Atmospheric Vacuum Unit, which will replace the existing outdated equipment, will yield significant savings and improve energy efficiency. The project is expected to take just over four years.

As part of the refinery’s configuration, the group will incorporate its own IndMax technology to produce high yields of propylene to feed a downstream PP plant with a capacity of 420,000 t/y.

Indian Oil is planning to raise the combined capacity of its 11 group refineries from 80.7 million t/y to more than 100 million t/y in the next five years through brownfield expansions.

The New Delhi-headquartered company is also pursuing a 60 million t/y integrated refinery and petrochemicals project on India’s west coast with partners Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.   Indian Oil has a 50% stake in the joint venture, which will build the complex in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra with commissioning expected by 2022.