(ET)
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest fuel retailer, intends to operate its oil refineries at 80 per cent capacity by end of May in anticipation of increased demand during the month, the company said in a statement today.
With the demand for petroleum products gradually picking up, IOC has re-started several process units at its refineries that were down due to the lockdown. “With throughputs gradually picking up pace, the refineries are currently operating at about 60 per cent of their design capacities with plans to scale up to 80 per cent % of the design levels by the end of the month,” it said.
The refineries were operating at full capacity before the lockdown but had to curtail throughput and bring operations down to nearly 45 per cent of capacity by the first week of April in response to a steep decline in demand.
