Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) will invest over Rs 21,000 crore to expand its Barauni refinery in Bihar and establish a city gas distribution network across the state. 

IOCL is upgrading the Barauni refinery from a capacity of six MTPA to nine MTPA, along with a petrochemical plant, at an estimated cost of Rs 16,000 crore.

Additionally, the company will invest Rs 5,600 crore to set up a network for retailing CNG to vehicles and piped cooking gas to households and industries in 27 cities of Bihar, IOCL’s Executive Director, Suman Kumar informed while speaking at the Bihar Business Connect 2024 investor summit. 

IOCL is also constructing a polypropylene plant, which will produce 2,00,000 tonne of polypropylene, as a key raw material used in the plastic industry.

The refinery expansion and polypropylene plant are expected to be operational by the end of 2025. Additionally, IOCL is investing Rs 5,600 crore to build a city gas distribution (CGD) network in 27 districts of Bihar.

Previously, IOCL, in collaboration with partners, invested Rs 9,512 crore to revive the Barauni fertiliser plant, which began urea production in October 2022 as part of a government initiative towards reviving closed urea plants.