Rising demand for fuel forces the firm to raise capacity

State-owned HPCL will invest ₹61,000 crore over the next four years in expanding and upgrading its existing refining capacity to meet higher quality fuel norms, the company said in an investor presentation.

HPCL is upgrading both its Mumbai and Visakh refineries to produce fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norms.

“Major planned investments in refinery, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) distribution and natural gas projects,” the company said in the presentation.

It will invest ₹20,928 crore in expanding its Visakh refinery in Andhra Pradesh from 8.33 million tonnes per annum to 15 million tonnes by July 2020.

Also, the Mumbai refinery is being expanded to 9.5 million tonnes a year from current 7.5 million tonnes at a cost of ₹4,199 crore.

The investment plans are irrespective of the proposal by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to buy out the government’s 51.11% stake in HPCL. Since HPCL will turn into a subsidiary of ONGC if the proposal gets government nod, the investment plans would not change, an official explained.

The Cabinet may this month accord approval to ONGC’s proposal. HPCL said it plans to expand Mundra-Delhi, Visakh-Vijayawada and Ramanmandi-Bahadurgarh pipelines to meet rising fuel demand.