Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will commission a new 15-million tons oil refinery and an accompanying petrochemical complex at Paradip in Orissa by October 2011, being ste up at a cost of Rs25,646 crore.

Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dinsha Patel said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, "IOC has already acquired 3,347 acres of land for Paradip project," he said.

Technological selection for all major units has been completed while project management consultant (PMC) has been selected for front end engineering and design (feed) of the project. "Environmental clearance for the project has been received on August 6, 2007."

"An amount of Rs 2281.87 crore has been sanctioned for Paradip refinery project for carrying out pre-project activities, out of which, Rs 778.32 crore has been spent as on August 31, 2007," Patel said.

NRL: To a separate question, Patel said Numaligarh refinery ltd has signed an agreement with Oil India ltd for supply of one million standard cubic metres per day of natural gas for its refinery.

"A new natural gas pipeline is being laid for transporting natural gas from Duliajan to Numaligarh. The proposed natural gas pipeline is expected to be completed by October 2008 at an estimated cost of Rs 318 crore," he said.

LPG: Separately, he said the country imported 526,000 tons of LPG this fiscal to meet the deficit between production and demand.