Indian state-owned oil company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has decided to go ahead with the expansion project of its 8.3 Mt/year Visakhaptnam refinery to 15 Mt/year. The expansion will require a total investment of Rs 20,928 crore (US$3.1bn). It is expected to improve distillate yield on total refining capacity and thereby improve the gross refining margin.
The Ministry of environment, forest and climate change issued an environment clearance for the project in February 2016. HPCL will build a new crude distillation unit of 9 Mt/year, a new hydrocracker unit of 2.5 Mt/year, a solvent de-asphalting unit of 2.5 2.5 Mt/year, a full conversion hydrocracker unit of 3.3 2.5 Mt/year, a propylene recovery unit of 96 tonne per day, an isomerisation unit of 292 kt/year. The company will also revamp an existing continuous catalytic cracker unit and revamp a hydro treating unit.