Hindustan Petroleum Corp expects to begin crude processing at its 180,000 barrels per day Barmer refinery in Rajasthan by the end of the month, it said on Wednesday.
With the commissioning of the Barmer refinery, HPCL will become the second largest state-run refiner, replacing Bharat Petroleum Corp which operates 706,000 barrels per day capacity through its three refineries.
HPCL has received crude in refinery tanks and “crude-in in CDU (crude distillation unit) is expected by the end of January”, it said in a statement.
HPCL operates a 190,000 bpd Mumbai refinery in western Maharashtra state and a 300,000 bpd Vizag refinery in southern Andhra Pradesh.
It also holds 48.99 per cent stake in HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd, which operates the 226,000 bpd Bathinda refinery in northern Punjab state. HPCL Mittal is raising the Bathinda refinery capacity by 10,000 bpd, it said.
HPCL has received Azerbaijan’s Azeri crude, Libya’s Mesla grade, Angola’s Nemba and Nigerian Okwuibome oil, according to LSEG trade flow and data from sources.
