Following the conclusion of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in February 1961, a site for the establishment of a 2 million tonnes per year oil refinery was selected on 17 April 1961.

[citation needed] The third 1 million tonnes per year distillation unit was commissioned in September 1967 to process Ankleshwar and North Gujarat crudes.

[citation needed] In 1993–1994, Gujarat commissioned the country's first hydrocracker unit of 1.2 million tonnes per year along with feed preparation unit-2 and hydrogen generation unit-1 (GHC Complex), for conversion of heavier ends of crude oil to high value superior products.

[3] It is the largest grassroots single train Kerosene-to-LAB unit in the world, with an installed capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year.

[citation needed] The Residue Upgraation Project undertaken by the Gujarat Refinery was completed by 2011 which increased the high sulfur processing capacity of Gujarat refinery, improved the distillate yield as well produce BS III & IV quality of MS and high-speed diesel (HSD).

[citation needed] When commissioned, the refinery had an installed capacity of 2 million tonnes per year and was designed to process crude from Ankleshwar, Kalol and Nawagam oilfields of ONGC in Gujarat.

The refinery also produces a wide range of specialty products such as benzene, toluene, mineral turpentine oil, food grade hexane, solvents and kerosene.