Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s (IOCL’s) INDMAX refining technology has been licensed to Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) of Serbia for production of higher value products.
Lummus Technology Inc, USA, is the global licensing partner for IOCL’s INDMAX technology.
An IndianOil statement said that this is the first ever overseas agreement to licence IndianOil's INDMAX refinery process technology for high propylene production.
An agreement for the same has been signed between NIS and Lummus, an IOCL statement said.
NIS is one of the largest vertically integrated oil & gas companies in Southeast Europe, with the Russian oil and gas conglomerate, Gazprom Neft (GPN), as its major shareholder.
IndianOil’s R&D Centre developed INDMAX in-house to enhance refinery profit margins by achieving high yields of LPG, light olefins and high-octane gasoline from residual petroleum hydrocarbon streams and fractions.
The efficacy of the technology was first demonstrated by setting up a 1 lakh tonnes per annum unit at IndianOil’s Guwahati Refinery in the year 2003. This was followed by the mega INDMAX unit at Paradip Refinery in 2015, which placed IndianOil in the league of world-class refinery process licensors. A third INDMAX unit of 0.74 million tonnes per annum is under commissioning at IndianOil’s Bongaigaon Refinery, the statement added.