New Delhi: HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL), a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), has declared June 22 as the date on which its Pachpadra refinery in Rajasthan achieved commercial operations, around nine days ahead of its scheduled July 1 commissioning date.
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HRRL informed that lead banker State Bank of India (SBI), under the Rupee Term Loan Facility Agreement, that "the Project has achieved the Actual Date of Commencement of Commercial Operations on 22nd June 2026," according to an exchange filing by HPCL.
SBI confirmed, through a letter dated 23 June 2026, that it had "taken on record the said declaration of Actual Date of Commencement of Commercial Operations," the filing said.
HPCL described the development as "a major milestone achieved by HRRL." The statement also thanked the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), the Government of Rajasthan, and the project's partners and stakeholders.
The commercial-operations declaration followed a separate filing dated June 18, in which HPCL said the refinery's Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) had been restored and restarted after an April fire. "The CDU restoration work has been completed and the unit has been successfully started," the company said, adding that "all product streams from the CDU/VDU are being produced and routed to the respective tanks for downstream processing."
HRRL had commenced production of BS-VI High Speed Diesel (HSD), LPG, petcoke and naphtha, the statement said. "Sale of LPG and Petcoke has already been started and dispatches of BS-VI HSD are expected to commence by end of this week," HPCL said in the June 18 filing, adding that production and dispatches of BS-VI Motor Spirit (MS), or petrol, would follow the next week.
The company said HPCL and HRRL management "remains focused on ensuring safe, stable and efficient operations as the Refinery progressively ramps up production to optimal capacity utilisation."
The refinery's commissioning had been disrupted by a fire on April 20 in the vicinity of the CDU, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due to dedicate the complex to the nation on April 21. The fire damaged the CDU's heat exchanger stack, according to HPCL's subsequent filings.
The Petroleum Ministry said at the time that the scheduled dedication of the project to the nation by the Prime Minister had been postponed, that the fire had been brought under control with no casualties reported, and an investigation had been initiated to ascertain the cause and undertake remedial measures. The CDU was subsequently restored over the following weeks.
HRRL is a 9 MMTPA greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at Pachpadra in Rajasthan's Balotra district, with 2.4 MMTPA of petrochemical capacity. It is a joint venture in which HPCL holds 74 percent and the government of Rajasthan 26 percent.
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The Union Cabinet in April 2026 approved a revision in the project cost to Rs 79,459 crore, from Rs 43,129 crore, an increase of about 84 percent, along with additional equity of Rs 8,962 crore by HPCL, taking the refiner's total equity in the project to Rs 19,600 crore. The Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (SCOD) set under that approval was July 1, 2026.
The complex is configured to process 7.5 MMTPA of imported crude and 1.5 MMTPA of Rajasthan crude.
