HPCL to commission Bhatinda refinery by 2010

Kochi: Public sector HPCL expects to complete the construction work of its new refinery at Bhatinda in Punjab, to be set up in association with Mittal Energy, by December 2010, Mr Arun Balakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director, said here on Thursday.

The facility, to be set up on public-private partnership basis at an investment of Rs 18,900 crore, will have a refining capacity of 9 million tonnes. As against the target of 42 months, the refinery will be completed in 39 months. It will be a sophisticated refinery with modern technology and will produce Euro 5 products. It will bring quality products catering to the markets of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, he said.

Mr Balakrishnan was here in connection with the national launch of HP Anytime 24 hour refill booking system for HP gas customers in Kerala. The booking facility has been launched in association with Idea Cellular Ltd and the company will roll it out across the country once it stabilises in the Kerala market, he said.

Referring to the Kerala operations, Mr Balakrishnan said that the second LPG bottling plant at Irumpanam near Kochi will be commissioned next month. Set up at an investment of Rs 32 crore, the plant will have a capacity of 44,000 tonnes a year. This will be the 44th bottling plant of the company in India and this along with the Palakkad LPG plant will serve 8 lakh customers in Kerala.

HPCL, he said, had started to make profits from January. It was bad times for the company up to the third quarter and things are improving following the fall in crude prices. The company suffered loss due to inventory revaluation. On crude prices, he said that low prices could continue for another six months after which it is expected to rise and stabilise in the range of $70-100 a barrel.

The company is also looking at producing bio fuel using jatropha in Chhattisgarh and the State Government there had provided 15,000 acres. It is in the process of dealing with farmers to promote cultivation of jatropha, which is widely cultivated there. It is also in the process of setting up an ethanol factory in Bihar, he added.