Indian Oil Corporation, on 23 December 2005, commissioned the diesel hydrotreatment (DHDT) unit at its Panipat refinery, as part of the ongoing expansion project that would double refining capacity to 12 million tpa.

The DHDT is the second major unit of the refinery expansion project to go on stream after the successful commissioning of the hydrogen generation unit. 

With a capacity of 3.5 million tpa, the DHDT at IOC (Panipat) is the largest such unit in the country. It is licensed by Axens of France. The DHDT unit will enable IOC to produce diesel conforming to Euro III norms.

Larsen & Toubro constructed the unit on lump sum turnkey basis, with Engineers India Ltd as project consultants.

Other components of the Rs 4,300-crore refinery expansion project are underway. The hydrocracker unit would be commissioned in early January 2006, while the crude and vacuum distillation unit and the delayed coker unit will also be on stream in the next three to four months. This would complete the refinery expansion project.

IOC is currently implementing two petrochemical projects at Panipat. The first is an integrated PX/PTA (paraxylene/purified terephthalic acid) plant at a cost of Rs.5,100 crore, scheduled to be commissioned by March 2006. The other is a naphtha cracker complex and downstream polymer units involving an investment of Rs.6,300 crore, scheduled for commissioning in 2009.

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IOC's Panipat refinery project moves ahead (22-Nov-05)