Paradip, Jan. 11: The government's decision to leapfrog from Bharat Stage IV (BS IV) emission norms to BS VI by April 2020 will cost IOC's Paradip refinery around Rs 4,000 crore.

"The refinery has been configured for BS IV and V and the government's decision to move to BS IV would require an investment of about Rs 4,000 crore in the next four year to upgrade and add some units," G.S. Singh, executive director (technical) of Paradip Refinery Project, said.

The refinery is scheduled to be commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi early next month.

An inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has decided to skip the intermediate BS V norms and shift to BS VI, which is expected to significantly curb emissions of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen emitted by petrol and diesel cars and heavy duty vehicles.

Senior Indian Oil officials hinted that the cost of upgrading other refineries could be more as they were old and had been configured to lower norms. IOC has 10 refineries in the country, including Paradip.

Following the commissioning of the Paradip refinery, IOC's overall refining capacity will increase to 1.61 million barrels per day (bpd), about 35 per cent of the country's 4.6-million bpd capacity.

The refinery was initially scheduled to be built by April 2012 but has been delayed owing to law and order problem.