New Delhi, Dec. 6: In a major technological leap, Indian Oil Corporation has decided to use its Indmax refining technology to construct the fluidised catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) of the upcoming 15-million-tonne Paradip refinery.

IOC chairman Sarthak Behuria said, “Indian Oil has now joined the league of select multinational technology licensors such as Shell, UOP and Stone and Webster.”

These global companies provide the technology for most of the oil refineries set up all over the world.

Behuria said IOC’s Indane Maximisation (Indmax) technology has been developed at its R&D centre in Faridabad on the outskirts of New Delhi and successfully tested at the Guwahati refinery, where a 100,000-tonne-per-year FCCU unit was in operation.

A formal agreement to use the technology for the Paradip refinery was signed today at IOC’s R&D centre by R.P. Verma, executive director (R&D) and P. Sur, general manager (projects-process) of refineries division of the company.

Behuria said the novel refining process technology enables higher yields of LPG and petrol by using various refinery streams, including heavy residues and naphtha as feedstock. A demonstration plant of 100,000-tonne-per-annum capacity, which is based on the technology, is already operational at Indian Oil’s Guwahati refinery since June 2003.

The proprietary technology and catalyst formulation have earned US, European and Indian patents. They were awarded by the India government’s department of science & technology (DST) and the department of industrial & scientific research in 2004, he said.

The Indmax process uses a special catalyst. A manufacturing facility for the catalyst is being put up in association with US-based InterCat in Gujarat.

Behuria said IOC’s R&D centre is also the nodal agency of the Indian hydrocarbon sector for ushering in hydrogen fuel in the country. It has developed two other key process technologies for producing Euro-III and Euro-IV grade diesel.

Behuria said the Paradip refinery would be commissioned by 2011-12. The complex will comprise a 15-million-tonne-per-annum refinery and facilities for production of front-end petrochemicals, including paraxylene, polypropylene and styrene.

“Work at the 3,000-acre site is in full swing for the construction of the mega refinery-cum-petrochemical complex,” Behuria said.

IOC has already installed a large crude oil terminal along with a single point mooring terminal on the coast for handling very large crude carriers for its refineries at Haldia and Barauni.

This terminal will be expanded for handling crude oil for the Paradip refinery as well.

Behuria also said after the reduction in petrol and diesel prices last month, IOC has started losing another Rs 8 crore a day. He said while the earlier under-recoveries on diesel, kerosene and LPG were around Rs 45 crore per day, this figure has now risen to Rs 53 crore.

The profit on petrol sales had been reduced to Rs 1.69 per litre while the loss on diesel had gone up to Rs 2 per litre, he added.