New Delhi, Aug.14: The nine-million-tonne Bhatinda refinery is likely to be commissioned in the third quarter of this fiscal.

Industry sources said the Rs 18,919-crore refinery was expected to go onstream in November-December. All units will be sequentially started by September-October, while crude processing will begin in phases before the final production.

State-owned HPCL and Singapore-based Mittal Energy Investment, an LN Mittal group firm, own 49 per cent each in HPCL-Mittal Energy, which is building the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Bhatinda. The remaining 2 per cent are held by financial institutions.

The term of the present Punjab Assembly ends in March 2012. The commissioning of the refinery before the end of this year will be showcased by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance.

Most of the 1,014 km pipeline, which will carry imported crude from Mundra in Gujarat to the refinery, is also complete. The refinery includes a 165 MW captive power plant.

Officials said the refinery would produce clean fuel and polypropylene by processing heavy, sour and acidic crudes.

The Bhatinda plant will enable the country to emerge as a refining hub. It will ramp up the domestic refining capacity to 238 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) by the end of the fiscal from 196.38 mmtpa at present.

Bharat Oman Refineries in Madhya Pradesh has also started producing fuel from its six-million-tonne unit. Oman Oil Company holds a 26 per cent stake in the joint venture company Bharat Oman, while BPCL owns the rest.

Other refineries to go onstream include IOC’s 15 mmtpa unit in Paradip and Nagarjuna Oil’s 6 mmtpa plant at Cuddalore.