IOC to pump in INR 840 crore to set up POL plant, raise storage capacity in NE

Guwahati, April 3 (PTI): PSU major Indian Oil Corporation on Sunday said it will invest nearly INR 840 crore in expanding its Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant (POL) storage capacities, including setting up a greenfield facility, in the Northeast.

The company is planning to take its POL capacities to 5,530 Thousand Metric Tonnes Per Annum (TMTPA) by 2030 from the existing 3,160 TMTPA, Indian Oil Corporation Executive Director (IndianOil-AOD) G Ramesh told PTI.

“We have two major projects coming up in the POL segment. The first one is the setting up of a greenfield depot at Sekerkote in Tripura. This will entail an investment of around INR 540 crore and will be completed by 2024,” he said.

At present, land clearing works are going on and the construction shall commence subsequently, the official said.

“Another major project that we will undertake is the expansion of the Betkuchi POL depot in Guwahati. We have earmarked INR 298 crore to increase the storage intake to 54,000 KL from 25,000 KL now, install new fire water tanks and other facilities,” Ramesh said.

He said the company has already acquired an additional 10.67 acres of land to expand the Betkuchi plant.

The company has also completed construction of a greenfield POL unit at Moinarbond near Silchar in Assam and now railway tracks are being aligned for facilitating bulk movement of fuel.

“At the Silchar plant, we have invested INR 5-4 crore. This is a major greenfield unit and it will be commissioned within the next few months,” Ramesh said.

He further said that once the greenfield units are operationalised, more than 800 people will be hired at Moinarband and Sekerkote through permanent and contract modes.

IOC at present has 13 POL depots across the Northeast with an installed capacity of 3,160 TMTPA, while the capacity utilisation is 2,428 TMTPA, the official said.

“After all our expansion projects are completed, our installed storage capacity will reach 5,530 TMTPA against a projected demand of 4,950 TMTPA by 2030,” he said.

Earlier, IOC had said it is embarking on a major expansion drive to enhance its LPG bottling capacity in Northeast by nearly 53 per cent to eight crore cylinders annually by 2030 to meet the growing demand of cooking fuel.