State-owned, Indian Oil Corp has said that it aims to open the Paradip refinery by April-May instead of March after cyclone Phailin hit India's east coast in the previous month created a shortage of labour in the area.

"There was a setback because of the recent cyclone because most of the contract labourers had to desert that place. We lost almost one-and-a-half to two months because of this cyclone," said R. K. Ghosh, IOC's head of refineries.

Chairman R. S. Butola said that there were 23,000-24,000 workers on the site and only about half of them have come back to work after the cyclone. Paradip refinery is capable of processing like those from Latin America but initially the refinery will use sulphur oil from Middle East and West Africa. The refinery is expected to operate at full capacity within six months of commissioning.

Meanwhile, IOC is opposing the government's plans to sell 10 per cent stake in the company. The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) is aiming to raise Rs 40,000 crore from the sale of shares in public sector units this fiscal and it has raised Rs 1,325 crore yet. It is aiming to launch a three-nation road show this month to attract foreign investors for the IOC stake sale.