New Delhi, May 29: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today said it planned to commission the 15-million-tonne (mt) Paradip refinery in October.

"We have started the process of commissioning the refinery in phases. We plan to fully commission it in October," chairman B. Ashok said.

Crude processing has started at the atmospheric and vacuum unit (AVU) and products such as LPG, naphtha, kerosene and gas oil are being manufactured by it.

Some of these products will require further processing in secondary units that are gearing up for commissioning. The entire complex will take around 4-5 months to become fully operational in an integrated manner, he said.

The Paradip refinery is expected to cater to the markets in eastern India. The refinery was initially supposed to be built by April 2012 but had faced delays because of a law and order problem. IOC's eleventh refinery was originally expected to cost Rs 29,777 crore but the cost had escalated to Rs 34,555 crore owing to the delay.

With 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 is configured to process the toughest, heaviest and dirtiest crude from countries such as Mexico, which is cheaper than the cleaner and easily processed varieties from West Asia. The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 13, the highest in the world.

Profit dips

The PSU's standalone net profit during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal fell 33.06 per cent to Rs 6,285.35 crore from Rs 9,389.85 crore a year ago, when it had received a lump sum subsidy.

"In the fourth quarter of 2013-14, we had received Rs 7,735 crore fuel subsidy for the previous quarters, pushing up the profits. Without this compensation, the fourth-quarter (2013-14) net profit would have been Rs 1,655 crore," Ashok said.

Consolidated net profit for 2014-15 was Rs 4,912.02 crore against Rs 7,085.59 crore in 2013-14. The board has recommended a dividend of Rs 6.60 per equity share (face value Rs 10 per equity share).

The average gross refining margin for the January-March quarter was $8.77 per barrel against $2.17 a year ago.