en.Wedoany.com Reported - Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC), after years of preparation, has entered the final phase of its refinery expansion and petrochemical complex projects. In its quarterly report submitted to the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. and the BSE on July 31, the company confirmed that the crude oil processing capacity expansion projects at three of its refineries are nearing completion and are scheduled to commence production by the end of 2026.
The Panipat refining complex, located in Haryana, north of New Delhi, currently has a crude oil processing capacity of 15 million tonnes per year. The project to expand it by 10 million tonnes per year was 94% complete as of June 30, and the total capacity after expansion will reach 25 million tonnes per year, with full commissioning scheduled for December 2026. As part of the expansion, the 60,000-tonne-per-year polybutadiene rubber (PBR) unit is 88.7% complete.
This expansion project, officially named the P-25 project, aims to enhance refinery operational flexibility, meet domestic energy demand, and serve as part of IOC's plan to increase production of petrochemicals and value-added specialty products, including the construction of a new polypropylene unit and a maleic anhydride unit, while adding new units to the integrated olefins and aromatics complex to improve profit margins and reduce the company's overall exposure to traditional fuel businesses. The project initially had a budget of INR 329.46 billion and was originally scheduled to commence production in September 2024; as of June 30, actual expenditure had reached INR 382.31 billion.
In Vadodara, Gujarat, IOC's long-planned Koyali refinery expansion project was 89.2% complete as of June 30. The refinery currently has a processing capacity of 13.7 million tonnes per year, and the expansion project will add 4.3 million tonnes per year, bringing it to 18 million tonnes per year, with plans to produce 500,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene and 235,000 tonnes per year of lubricant base oils at the plant. The project is currently scheduled to commence production in November 2026, with a total cost of approximately INR 189.36 billion, higher than the initially planned INR 178.25 billion.
The Barauni refinery, located in Begusarai district, Bihar, currently has a processing capacity of 6 million tonnes per year. The project to increase it by 3 million tonnes per year to 9 million tonnes per year was 91.6% complete as of June 30, and the expansion also includes increasing the capacity of the existing 1.4-million-tonne-per-year residue fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit to 1.7 million tonnes per year. The project initially had a total budgeted cost of INR 148 billion and a target commissioning date of December 2026, with INR 181.13 billion already invested to date.
At the 15-million-tonne-per-year Paradip refinery on the northeast coast of India in Odisha, the new integrated para-xylene-purified terephthalic acid (PX-PTA) complex project was 94.6% complete as of June 30 and is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of this month. The new complex will have an 800,000-tonne-per-year PX capacity, which will serve as feedstock for the adjacent 1.2-million-tonne-per-year PTA unit. The project investment remains at the initially planned INR 138.05 billion, within budget.
Additionally, IOC stated that it will continue to advance plans to build a new petrochemical complex at the Paradip site, with Phase I of the project already approved at an investment of INR 610.77 billion. IOC's petrochemical expansion efforts serve the company's goal of increasing its petrochemical intensity index (PII) from the current level of approximately 6.11% to 15% by 2030.
