Prime minister Narendra Modi today stressed on cutting crude oil imports by 10% by 2022, the year marking 75 years of India's independence.

"We want to minimise our imports of crude oil. By 2022, we should aim at 10% cut in imports as we will be celebrating the 75th year of the country's independence. I took a meeting with the Oil ministry officials and impressed upon them on the need to cut oil imports", Modi said here after dedicating to the nation the 15 million tonne oil refinery of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).

India had imported 189.43 million tonne of crude oil in 2014-15 for Rs 6.87 lakh crore. This fiscal the imports are projected at 188.23 million tonne, almost the same level as last year.

He underscored the need for blending petroleum with ethanol and use of jatropha oil as an alternative fuel.

Talking on the Paradeep refinery, Modi said it is capable of producing 50 million litres of petrol, 66 million litres of diesel, 25 million litres of kerosene and aviaton turbine fuel (ATF) and 12 million quintals of petroleum coke.

He said the Rs 35,000-crore refinery would churn out raw materials which would enable the establishment of a number of plastic industries.

"The then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone of this refinery (in 2002). Lakhs of people can get employment opportunities because of this refinery. The Paradeep refinery is an island of progress for the people and an island of fortune for the youths in Odisha. We want our youths to become job creators rather than job seekers", he said to a loud applause from the people.

Taking a swipe at the Opposition Congress, he said, "Today, when I inaugurate any project or scheme, the Congress claims it was started by them.

We need a culture that allows schemes to commence and get implemented on time so that the nation benefits . We are trying to build that culture."

The MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Yojana) scheme started by us has seen disbursements of the order of Rs one lakh crore and this is no mean an achievement, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said, "The state governement allocated 3310 acres of land 25 million gallons of water per day for this project. The government has also forsaken revenue of Rs 100,000 crore by allowing exemptions in central sales tax and entry tax and also deferring of value added tax (VAT). The refinery cum petrichemical complex has the potential of creating 300,000 jobs and is one of the brightest spots in 'Make In India' campaign."

"IOCL had announced four projects for the petrochemcial complex. I understand that they have started work on one of the units. They should also commence work on the other three units", he added.

Minister for petroleum & natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said, the IOCL refinery was coming up 50 years after the establishment of the Paradeep port. "Had it not been for the support of the state government, this refinery would not have come up here", he added.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) aims to operate its largest grassroot refinery at Paradeep at full 15 million tonnne per annum capacity from next fiscal.

The Paradeep refinery product mix would consist of 37.5% high speed diesel, 25.3% motor spirits, 13.1% ATF, 5.2% propylene+LPG, 8.1% petroleum coke and 1.8% sulphur. The products would be predominantly consumed in the domestic market except few quantities of motor spirits which would be exported.

The Paradeep refinery is capable of processing 100% high sulphur, including 40% heavy crude oil of low cost. The refinery would churn out a wide gamut of petroleum products like petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel, propylene, sulphur and petroleum coke.