Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) aims to expand the capacity of its Vizag refinery in southern India by up to 20 percent to meet rising local fuel demand.

The Vizag refinery’s current capacity of 3,00,000 barrels per day (bpd) may be increased by an additional 40,000 to 60,000 bpd, pending board approval. "We are exploring raising the (annual) capacity by 2-3 million (metric) tonnes (40,000-60,000 bpd). We have to take a board approval for this," Chairman Rajneesh Narang Speaking at the India Energy Week conference announced that HPCL will soon operationalise new secondary units at the Vizag refinery, including a 3.5 million-tonne-per-year residue upgradation unit, which will boost distillate yield by 10 percent and improve the gross refining margin (GRM) by USD three per barrel.

Additionally, a 2.6 million-tonne-per-year diesel hydro desulphuriser will come online to meet the rising demand for cleaner fuels. HPCL is constructing a petrochemical plant at its Barmer refinery in Rajasthan. The Barmer facility will be India’s first refinery with a petrochemical intensity of 26 percent, indicating that 26 percent of crude oil processed will be converted into petrochemicals.

Crude processing at Barmer is expected to begin in June-July, while the petrochemical plant will start operations by December. Apart from Vizag and Barmer, HPCL operates a 1,90,000 bpd refinery in Mumbai.