Pet coke beats R-LNG for IndianOil
High R-LNG prices and dwindling domestic gas supplies are forcing companies to get creative.
IndianOil believes it can meet any additional gas requirement at its Koyali, Mathura and Panipat refineries by gasifying pet coke, a by-product of the crude oil refining process. IOC currently uses 1m cm/d of R-LNG at its 8m t/y Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh; it uses 1.5m cm/d at the 15m t/y Panipat refinery in Haryana; and takes 2.5m cm/d at its 13.7m t/y Koyali refinery in Gujarat.
But it plans to increase Koyali capacity to 18m t/y, while increasing Mathura to 11m t/y and Panipat to 18m t/y or 21m t/y. “High R-LNG prices affect our GRMs (Gross Refinery Margins) by up to $1.5/barrel of oil processed,” says a senior IOC source.
“It’s a large amount. Better to use pet coke.
” IOC director refineries RK Ghosh adds IOC also wants to replace naphtha with gas wherever possible. “It’s better to crack naphtha for petrochemicals than to use it as fuel,” he says.