The Hindu Business Line : Tatipaka mini refinery capacity to be doubled

Rajahmundry, July 17 The capacity of the Tatipaka mini refinery of the ONGC in East Godavari district is to be doubled, by constructing another unit of equal capacity (200 MT per day), at a cost of Rs 40-45 crore, said Mr M.V. Subba Rao, Deputy General Manager in charge of the refinery.

He told reporters at a press meet at Tatipaka on Monday evening that 23 acres of land was being acquired additionally for the new unit which is likely to be commissioned by 2009.

He said, “This is the first skid-mounted refinery of India commissioned in 2001, with an installed capacity of 66,000 MT per year. As it is not economical to carry the small amount of crude produced in the Krishna-Godavari basin all the way to the HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam, the need for the mini refinery was felt.”

He said the mini refinery was producing four value-added products and an effluent treatment plant was commissioned in December, 2006. The refinery had bagged the ISO 9001certification and a number of awards, including the Green Tech Safety Award, he said.

Mr Rao said that even during the 2006 floods the shutdown period was minimised.

There was a gas collection centre too at Tatipaka. “We are supplying 44.5 lakh cubic metres per day (LCMD) to the GAIL and 1.22 LCMD to the small consumers. We are flaring up 0.17 LCMD of gas as a part of the process and we are keeping back 0.30 LCMD for internal use,” he said.

Mr D.V.S. Naidu, installation manager, also spoke.