Indian Oil Corp will begin commissioning of Paradip Refinery from Q1 of 2015.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's biggest company, will begin commissioning of its long-delayed Rs. 34,500 crore Paradip refinery from the first quarter of 2015.'Once fully operational, this 15 million tonnes a year flagship refinery will further strengthen IOC's position as India's premier refiner and also add substantially to our bottomline,' a company statement quoted its Director (Refineries) Sanjiv Singh as saying.

He said commissioning will begin from the first quarter of 2015 but did not say by when the full unit will be commissioned.Paradip refinery was originally to be built by April 2012 but has faced delays because of law and order problem. The 11th refinery of IOC was to cost Rs. 29,777 crore but the delays have now taken the cost to Rs. 34,500 crore.

'All our teams have geared up for realising the successful commissioning of this dream project which will enable us to process most difficult and cheap crudes resulting in higher profitability,' Singh said. Emphasising the responsibility towards clean environment, he said IOC has always given highest priority to environment and its operations are in total harmony with ecology.

ET