IOC’s Paradip refinery commissioning will not happen next month as the progress of project execution has slipped again. However, reasons for these slippages are not known. Now the project is likely to be commissioned in December. 15 MTPA refinery is expected to cost Rs. 31, 995 crore and the company has already spent Rs. 24,741 crore by February 2014.
IOC’s Paradip refinery which received PIB approvals way back in 1998 has been stalled several times and was finally revived in February 2004. The project was delayed as IOC was unable to find suitable joint venture partners for the project. The company held negotiations with several investors – Hindujas, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Petronas, Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company – for equity participation. As its search for partner failed to fructify, IOC finally decided to go it alone.