IOC On Rs 21,000-Crore Expansion Drive In Bihar

Indian Oil Corp. will invest over Rs 21,000 crore in Bihar as part of its expansion plan in the state, Executive Director Suman Kumar said on Thursday.

The public sector undertaking will invest the funds for expanding the Barauni refinery as well as laying out a city gas distribution network across the state, Kumar said at the Bihar Business Connect 2024 investor summit in Patna.

It will be increasing its Barauni refinery's capacity to 9 million tonnes per annum from the current 6 MTPA together with a petrochemical plant at a cost of about Rs 16,000 crore, it said.

The oil and gas company will also invest Rs 5,600 crore in setting up a network to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households and industries in 27 cities of Bihar, he added.

Pointing out that IOC is the "oldest investor" in Bihar, Kumar said the Barauni refinery, which was set up in 1964, had an initial capacity of 3 MTPA, which was later expanded to 6 MTPA. "Now we are expanding the capacity from 6 million tonnes to 9 million tonnes per annum," he said, adding that the corporation is also constructing a 2,00,00 tonne-capacity polypropylene plant alongside it.

In the second quarter of the current fiscal, the oil marketing company's net profit had fallen 93% to Rs 180 crore. Revenue declined 9.6% to Rs 1,73,847.6 crore.

Shares of IOC closed 2.08% higher at Rs 139.65 apiece on the BSE, compared to a 1.2% decline in the benchmark Sensex.