BPCL commissions Rs. 1,419-cr crude distillation unit.

State-run oil refiner and marketer Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) recently commissioned a new 6-million tonne crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Mumbai refinery, which will take the capacity of its oldest facility to 12 million tonne per annum.

The Rs. 1,419-crore CDU, fourth unit was completed as per schedule.

BPCL Chairman and Managing Director S Varadarajan said the modern technologies employed in the unit will help the PSU save Rs. 128 crore annually by way of lower (a whopping 30 per cent less from the current levels) fuel consumption alone.

The facility was dedicated to the nation by Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at Mahul on the eastern fringe of the megapolis.

Varadarajan said with the new CDU, the Mumbai facility has the lowest sulphur dioxide emission levels, at 10.5 million tonne per day, amongst all refineries in the country.

Following this commissioning, BPCL will dismantle two older crude vacuum and distillation units that were set up in 1955 by Burma Shell, the private sector parent of BPCL, and create space for modernisation at the land-starved refinery.

BPCL has only 454 acres for the entire refinery.

The Mumbai refinery was set up by Burma Shell way back in 1955 with a capacity of 2.2 mtpa. A decade later, the Government nationalised the oil sector and Burma Shell was renamed as Bharat Petroleum Corporation.

HBL