Indian refinery upgrade planned
NEW DELHI�Owners of Madras Refineries Ltd. plan to spend 23.6 billion rupees ($528 million) to modernize the refinery and expand its capacity to 9.5 million tonnes/year from 6.5 million tonnes/year. The project is scheduled to be completed in 36 months.
Partners in the project are the Indian government and the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC). The refining complex produces a wide range of petroleum products.
The 23.6 billion rupee cost estimate includes a foreign exchange component of 3.3 billion rupees, and 1.5 billion rupees have been allocated for various environmental control measures.
The proposal for expansion and modernization has been pending for 4 years, but final clearance was granted by India's Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment and Forests on July 11.
Madras Refineries was formed in December 1965 as a joint venture of the government, Amoco India Inc., and NIOC. In 1985, Amoco India divested its equity holding to India as part of its global restructuring exercise.