HPCL to operate Vizag refinery at expanded capacity of 15 MTPA from Jun-end

VARANASI, India (Reuters) – State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation hopes to operate its Vizag refinery in southern India at an expanded capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from end-June, its chairman Pushp Joshi said on Sunday.

HPCL is in the process of commissioning units at the refinery, which previously had a capacity of 8.33 mtpa, he said, adding HPCL’s crude imports would rise in the next fiscal year from April as a result.

“Our crude imports will go up as we expand capacity. We will buy from wherever we get at cheaper rates,” Joshi told reporters at an event to lunch gas-fuelled boats in the River Ganges.