BPCL to restart 200,000 bpd Kochi crude unit by end-July

Bharat Petroleum Corp plans to restart a 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude unit at its 310,000 bpd Kochi refinery in southern India by end of this month after a three-week maintenance shutdown, its head of refineries said.

The shutdown of the crude unit and some secondary units at Kochi started earlier this month after the company restarted a 156,000 bpd crude unit at its Bina refinery in central India, R. Ramachandran told Reuters.

State-run BPCL, the country's second biggest state refiner, had shut the crude unit at the Bina refinery for about three weeks from the second week of June for routine maintenance, he said. Bina has only one crude unit.

According to government data, BPCL's Bina refinery operated at about 60 percent of its installed capacity in June.

BPCL also plans to shut a continuous catalytic reformer at its Mumbai refinery in western India for about three weeks from August 1, he said.