Guwahati, Jan 29: The Guwahati Refinery, owned by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), on Thursday said it exclusively supplied 19 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) of smokeless fuel to Indian armed forces during Operation Sindoor.
In an interaction with senior journalists, Guwahati Refinery (GR) executive director Sunil Kanti said the unit is one of the very few in the country which can produce Low Sulphur Low Aromatics SKO (LSLA SKO), and it was the sole unit to provide the specialised fuel to the army during Operation Sindoor.
“The Indian Army had requested us sometime back to produce a special fuel, which would not emit smoke. They wanted it to keep our soldiers warm in extreme cold conditions. Usually, all types of fuels emit smoke when it is burnt,” he said.
Kanti said that the research and development wing of Guwahati Refinery then developed LSLA SKO for the armed forces stationed in high-altitude locations.
“During Operation Sindoor, only our refinery produced and supplied 19 TMT of LSLA SKO within record time. The product was transported to Misamari, Siliguri and Agra for further transportation to Army bases in cold border areas,” he added.
From Misamari, the LSLA was sent to Arunachal Pradesh, while the product supplied to Siliguri was further transported to Sikkim, the ED-cum-Refinery Head said.
“The LSLA we had sent to Agra was given to the Indian Army stationed in Ladakh region. This is a matter of pride that Guwahati Refinery played an important role during the country’s defence mechanism in Operation Sindoor,” he added.
The LSLA contains approximately 1 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur against a permissible limit of 10 ppm, 2-3 per cent aromatics against 4 per cent upper limit and 30 mm smoke point.
The Guwahati Refinery is the country’s first public sector unit, inaugurated in January 1962 with a capacity of 0.75 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA).
The capacity was enhanced to 1.2 MMTPA in 2023. Currently, the crude requirement of the refinery is distributed between those from Assam and imported ones. Assam crude constitutes around 40 per cent of GR’s input, while 60 per cent are imported, Kanti said.
“Earlier, we used to get fully Assam crude. But after Numaligarh Refinery came into existence, our share reduced and there is no fixed amount. Assam crude’s first priority is Digboi and Numaligarh refineries. So, we are dependent on imported crude, coming from Paradip via Barauni,” he added.
The senior official also said that GR is constructing a Catalytic Reforming unit (CRU), which is expected to be commissioned by May this year.
“We at present do not have the facility to produce reformate, which is a low-sulfur and high-octane-number gasoline blend component from Naphtha. This stream is required for the production of gasoline and is currently imported from other refineries,” he added.
Kanti said that the upcoming 90 KTPA CRU will enable Guwahati Refinery to be self-sufficient to produce gasoline in the future.
