IOC increases domestic market shares of LAB

11 April 2007

This refinery output for distillate yield (high value products) was 71.7 per cent of crude and the crude output is 30 per cent of IOC''s total output. It also scaled up its diesel production from 4.43 MMT to its highest ever diesel production of 5.06 MMT. The company saw a 14 per cent increase in crude processing in 2006-07 from the seven refineries totaling processing of 43.98 million tonne of crude.

The refinery also started exporting superior grade LAB (used for manufacturing detergent) to Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Norway, Turkey and Oman during the year 2006-07. RIL and Nirma are the other major players competing with IOC.

At its Gujarat refinery, the company plans to invest Rs5,693 crore to implement a petrol and diesel quality improvement project which is expected to be completed by October 2009. This will result in maximising the product availability mainly in the LPG and HSD categories.

The company is also studying the viability of setting up a 15-million metric tonne (MMT) petrochemicals and refinery facility in Paradip in the near future.

On 6 April, 2007, Sarthak Behuria, chairman, IOC, inaugurated the Rs300 crore Mundra-Panipat Pipeline project for transporting imported crude oil to Indian Oil''s Panipat Refinery in Haryana. The 1,174-km pipeline will meet the additional crude oil demand of Panipat Refinery, whose capacity has recently been expanded from 6 to 12 MMTPA.

Indian Oil also launched its XtraRewards, India''s first online loyalty card for cash customers in Bangalore on March 26, 2007. The first online cash customer loyalty card, XtraRewards, was presented to Padmashri Prakash Padukone by G C Daga, director (marketing).