Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC), the country’s second-largest petroleum coke producer, has issued the first price list of RPC (Raw Petroleum Coke) for various refineries, after discontinuing the auction system.
Prices have been declared for 3 grades of RPC form each refinery. The highest grade is known as Premium Grade (Sulphur<1%), followed by Grade-A (Sulphur 1-1.5%) and the lowest grade Grade B (Sulphur 1.5 -2.5%).
The first such price list of different grades of RPC from various refineries w.e.f. 3rd/4th Feb’21 is enumerated as follows:
| Refinery | Premium Grade (INR/t) | Grade A (INR/t) | Grade B (INR/t) |
| Barauni | 21,770 | 21,270 | 20,770 |
| Bongaigaon | 22,890 | 22,390 | 21,890 |
| Guwahati | 21,990 | 21,490 | 20,990 |
| Digboi | 20,470 | 19,970 | 19,470 |
| Koyali | 18,090 | 17,590 | 17,090 |
There is a price differential of INR 500/t between each grade. The price of Premium Grade is the highest, price of Grade A is lower by INR 500/t and price of Grade B is further lower by INR 500/t.
If the price is compared with reference to RPC price at Barauni, it is found that price differential between the refineries at Bonagaigaon, Guwahati, Digboi and Koyali is INR 1,120/t, INR 220/t, (-) INR 1,300/t and (-) INR 3,680/t respectively.
Notably, each grade of RPC may be not available at all the refineries. Premium Grade is generally available at Bongaigaon, Guwahati and Digboi refineries, whereas Grade A & Grade B is available at Barauni and Koyali refineries. Further, the quality of RPC at Koyali is considered as the lowest due to high metal contents and shots, which are undesirable in RPC. This is the main reason as to why the price of RPC at Koyali is lower by as much as INR 3,680/t than Barauni.
The abovementioned price list is compared with IndianOil’s last auction conducted for these refineries as follows:
| Refinery | List Price Premium Grade (INR/t) | Last auction bid price (INR/t) | Variation (INR/t) | Date of last auction |
| Barauni | 21,770 | 21,740 | 30 | 12/01/21 |
| Bongaigaon | 22,890 | 22,890 | 0 | 12/01/21 |
| Guwahati | 21,990 | 21,990 | 0 | 12/01/21 |
| Digboi | 20,470 | 19,990 | 480 | 2/01/21 |
| Koyali (Gr. A) | 18,090 | 15,940 | 1,650 | 28/11/20 |
It may be observed that the current list price is almost same as the bid price of last auction at those refineries of equivalent grades, except at Koyali, because the auction was conducted long back on 28/11/2020 and there has been sharp increase in price since then.
In the present system, any registered consumer, having valid pollution control certificate and required statutory approvals can uplift RPC from any refinery.
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