IOCL to commission Rs 30 bn polypropylene facility in six months

The new unit can catalyse a host of downstream industries in eastern region besides opening new markets in Myanmar and Bangladesh

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) aims to commission the polypropylene facility coming up near its Paradip oil refinery within the next six months.

"The new polypropylene unit in Paradip, which will be commissioned in around next six months, can catalyse a host of downstream industries in the (eastern) region besides opening of new markets in Myanmar and Bangladesh, in consistency with the Government's look east policy," said Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas at the sixth convocation of IIT-Bhubaneswar held on Sunday.

The unit is estimated to cost Rs 31.5 billion.

The plant would make use of Spheripol Technology from Basell, Italy, and will be capable of producing different grades of polypropylene. However, it will commence with the production of homo grade initially. The major facilities envisaged under the project are coker LPG treater unit, warehouse for polypropylene storage and other associated facilities such as flare and cooling tower.

Two more projects have been planned for the petrochemical complex - a 1,200,000-tonne-per-annum purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant and petcoke gasification-based synthetic ethanol plant. Both projects would together cost IOCL Rs 280 billion and are to be commissioned by September 2021.

Full capacity utilisation at the  Paradip refinery and expected commissioning of its petro chemical units including polypropylene, MEG, PX/PTA (Paraxylene/Purified Terephthalic Acid) plant  will act as a catalyst

for industrialisation and development of the eastern region in general and the state of Odisha in particular, the Union minister said.

Total investment on the petrochemical complex is seen at Rs 340 billion.

IOCL has pumped in Rs 350 billion on the crude oil refinery. The company is exporting about 10 per cent of its petroleum products from the Paradip refinery.