HPCL may delay 15-day shutdown of Mumbai refinery

To meet fuel demand from local industry, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) may defer the planned 15-day shutdown of its 60,000 barrels per day crude unit at Mumbai refinery to September.
However, the company has no plans to change a 45-day maintenance shutdown of a 60,000 bpd crude unit, a visbreaker unit and a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at Vizag refinery. The shutdown will begin in November. HPCL runs a 130,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Mumbai and a 166,000 bpd plant at Vizag, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Recently, the refinery was planning to add new facilities at its Vizag refinery to convert low-value heavy oils into premium products which will significantly increase refining margins, company officials stated. The refinery is also likely to merge Prize Petroleum (PPCL) with itself after attempts to seek for a 50% stake in its oil exploration firm did not yield favorable response. The company will take a final decision on March 25, when the representatives of PPCL will meet the HPCL board.