Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), country’s largest oil firm, on Thursday announced that the integrated oil company will invest a sum of Rs 9,028 crore in laying a new crude oil pipeline from Mundra in Gujarat to Panipat in Haryana.
The pipeline will have a nominal capacity of 17.5 million tonne per annum, which will be able to transport imported crude oil from the Gujarat coast to the firm’s refinery in Haryana, the company said in its press release.
“Under this project, IOC would also build 9 crude oil tanks of 60,000 kilolitres each at Mundra, which, apart from meeting operational requirements, would help in enhancing crude oil storage capacity in the country. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 9,028 crore,” it said, adding the board of the company gave its assent to the investment on December 20.
IOC is working on expanding the capacity of the Panipat refinery from 15 million to 25 million tonnes per annum, as well as installing a polypropylene unit and a catalytic dewaxing unit, with a target to complete it by the second quarter of FY 2024-25.
“The new pipeline system and crude oil tank storage would help in meeting the enhanced need of crude oil requirement due to the expansion of the Panipat refinery. The crude oil pipeline project is expected to be completed in synchronization with the commissioning of Panipat refinery expansion,” it said.
IOC has a network of over 15,000 km long crude oil, petroleum product and gas pipelines, thus considered as one of the world’s largest oil pipeline networks. It expanded its network by adding 337 km of additional pipeline length during the last fiscal year and seeks to expand its network potentially.