Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan laid the foundation stone of country’s first-of-its-kind Octomax unit at the Mathura refinery that will help in the production of high-octane gasoline. Octomax, a “novel technology” developed in-house by Research and Development Centre of Indian Oil, involves conversion of cracked C4 streams to high-octane gasoline blending stock for production of Euro-IV/V equivalent gasoline.

The refinery will setup a plant of 55 KTA capacity at an estimated cost of Rs 43 cr and is expected to be completed by October 2017. The unit on Octomax technology has been conceptualised and designedbased on indigenous efforts. Minister of State (Independent Charge) Petroleum and Natural Gas Pradhan said thisis in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make In India’ mission.

Mathura refinery will play major role in meeting government’s target of introducing BS-VI standardsin petrol and diesel by 2020. The plan is to further increase the capacity of Mathura Refinery to 11.0 MMT/yr at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore but it depends on Uttar Pradesh government facilitating the refinery by withdrawing five per cent entry tax.