HPCL's Rajasthan Refinery Startup Faces Delay Following CDU Fire — OPIS

A fire broke out at the Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Rajasthan refinery's 180,000 b/d greenfield complex at around 2 p.m. local time on Monday, according to statements from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the company. The fire was localized within the heat exchanger stack of the crude distillation unit.

Preliminary assessments suggest the blaze was triggered by a hydrocarbon leak at a valve flange. While the fire was extinguished within two hours and no casualties were reported, the CDU and vacuum distillation unit were immediately isolated, HPCL said.

It added that all units remain "structurally safe and unaffected," and that no other sections of the INR 779,459 crore ($8.5 billion) facility suffered impact. Despite this, an inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed indefinitely to allow for a high-level inquiry and safety inspections, according to the ministry.

The refinery is a joint venture between HPCL (74%) and the Rajasthan government (26%).

Although the JV partners previously targeted commercial operations to commence on July 1, market analysts suggest the timeline may face pressure as investigators determine if the affected heat exchanger circuit requires specialized component replacements or extensive metallurgical testing.

A market analyst estimates that "while the structure is safe, technical repairs could take up to four months before commissioning can resume."

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by John Koh, jkoh@opisnet.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 21, 2026 05:59 ET (09:59 GMT)