Question : Modernisation-Expansion of Refineries

(a) whether the Government proposes to undertake modernisation/upgradation of the oil refineries across the country and to equip them with latest technology being used at international level and if so, the details thereof including the funds earmarked, targets set for expansion of refiner capacity, State/UT/Oil Marketing Company (OMC)- wise including Bharat Oman Refinery Limited (BORL) ;
(b) whether the Government has set up a working group to assess the country’s fuel demand and prepare an action plan to scale up the refinery capacity in the light of report of World Energy Outlook and if so, the details thereof and the action taken in this regard;
(c) the details of existing refineries/petrochemical unit including those running on Naphtha functioning in the country at present along with their installed capacity/utilisation and steps taken by the Government for their optimum utilisation, OMC and refinery and State/UT-wise; and
(d) whether the Government/OMCs propose to set up mega refineries/petrochemical plants in the country and if so, the details thereof along with places identified for the purpose, OMC/State/UT-wise?

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.116 BY SHRI KAMAL NATH AND SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY TO BE ANSWERED ON 25th July, 2016 REGARDING MODERNISATION/EXPANSION OF REFINERIES
(a) Indian refineries have adopted modern technologies for production of petroleum products and have continuously upgraded the technologies in line with their requirements and international trends. Apart from primary processing technologies, viz., Crude Oil Fractionation by Atmospheric Distillation and Vacuum Distillation for initial separation, the major modern process technologies employed by Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) refineries for producing petroleum products include:-
i) Secondary/Upgradation Technologies for yield improvement:
? Thermal cracking processes, viz., Visbreaking, Delayed Coking.
? Fluidised Catalytic Cracking, INDMAX Technology.
? Hydrocracking.
ii) Quality Upgradation Technologies:
? Catalytic Reforming, Isomerisation, Alkylation, Prime G for meeting the quality specifications of Petrol w.r.t. octane number, benzene content, aromatics, olefins, sulphur, distillation etc.
? Diesel Hydro-desulphurisation (DHDS), Diesel Hydro-treating (DHDT) for diesel for reduction of sulphur & PAH (Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons) and cetane number improvement.
Details of projects undertaken by some of the Oil PSUs are given at Annexure-I.
(b) Government has constituted a Working Group for preparing Approach Paper for enhancing Refining Capacity by the year 2040. The terms of reference of the Working Group are as follows:-
(i) To assess primary energy requirement for 2040.
(ii) To assess likely technological developments in different energy fields.
(iii) To develop Primary Energy Mix with breakup in terms of gas, oil, coal, nuclear, solar, hydro and bio, etc.
(iv) To assess demand for major petroleum products linking with advancements in use, substitution by other forms of energy, drive on enhancing energy efficiency and Government policies.
The first meeting of Working Group has been held on 27.06.2016.
(c) Details of existing Refineries/petrochemical Units (Public Sector) functioning in the country is given at Annexure-II. PSU Refineries in India have been achieving average capacity utilization of over 100% for the last three years.
(d) Government has accorded approval on 20.09.2013 to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) to set up a 9 MMTPA Refinery-cum-Petrochemical Complex in Barmer, Rajasthan in collaboration with Government of Rajasthan (GoR). Further, Oil PSUs namely, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have announced a plan to jointly set up an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex with a refining capacity of 60 MMTPA in phased manner in Maharashtra.