IOC to invest over Rs 2,600 crore to set up greenfield units

Indian Oil Corporation has firmed up plans to pump in over Rs 2,600 crore in setting up several greenfield units and expanding its facilities across the northeast over the next few years.

The board of IOC has already approved various new projects, while some are in the process of getting the nod, with the leading energy firm in talks with the local governments in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Manipur to finalise land parcels for the greenfield units.

The company is at present carrying out nearly a dozen projects, both greenfield and brownfield, across the region, entailing a total investment of Rs 2,612 crore.

Another project, for which the board has given its nod, is the expansion of the Betkuchi POL depot in Guwahati at a cost of Rs 277 crore.

IOC plans to increase the storage intake to 54,000 kilolitres from the existing 25,000 KL, install new fire water tanks and other facilities. It has already acquired an additional 10.67 acres of land to expand the Betkuchi plant.

The company has decided to revamp the Dimapur depot in Nagaland, and the board approval is in the process for an estimated expenditure of Rs 231 crore.

In order to ramp up the LPG bottling infrastructure in all the northeastern states, the PSU major has lined up a few projects.

IOC has a total bottling capacity of 692 TMTPA across its 10 LPG plants in the northeast. It has 871 distributors with 91 lakh active customers out of the total LPG customer base of 1.12 crore in the region, transforming it into 81.2 per cent of the total connections.

In the northeast, IndianOil is the market leader in the POL segment with the highest market share of 64.4 per cent in petrol and 64.5 per cent in diesel.

It has a robust marketing infrastructure with around 1,427 retail outlets and 467 superior kerosene oil (SKO) dealerships, which are supported by 10 bulk storage depots or terminals.