Indian Oil Corp to invest Rs 170 billion in Odisha petrochem projects

IOCL plans to set up PTA and MEG plants within its Paradip refinery complex. The PTA and MEG will then be converted into polyester yarn and staple fibre at a facility at the proposed textile park

The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) will invest about Rs 170 billion in three petrochemical projects in Odisha to produce polyester fibre to be used as feedstock in a textile park in the state.

The IOCL plans to set up PTA (Purified Terephthalic Acid) and MEG (Monoethylene Glycol) plants within its refinery complex at Paradip, Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan said at an investors' conclave in Surat.

The work on the PTA and MEG plants will start this financial year and is expected to be commissioned in three years' time.
 

While the PTA plant of 1200 KTA (kilo tonne per annum) will cost about Rs 45 billion, the MEG plant of 357 KTA will come up at an estimated expenditure of Rs 100 billion.

Both the projects will use naphtha from the IOCL's Paradip refinery to make PTA and MEG which will then be converted into polyester yarn and staple fibre at a Rs 20 billion facility at the proposed textile park near the coastal city of Bhadrak in Odisha.

Addressing the conclave 'Purbodaya- Unfolding opportunities in textile and plastic downstream sectors in Odisha', Pradhan said that production of polyester yarn and fibre at Bhadrak, for the first time in Eastern India, would give a fillip to manufacturing of polyester textile in the region. 

He urged the Surat-based investors to take advantage of the availability of raw material, infrastructural facilities like ports at Paradip and Dhamra, good road and railway connectivity along with low-cost labour to invest in textile and polymer sectors in Odisha.

Speaking on the occasion, IOCL chairman, Sanjiv Singh, said the Indian Oil has invested Rs 350 billion in Paradip refinery. A new polypropylene unit of 700 KTA capacity costing Rs 31.5 billion is getting ready for commissioning at Paradip by the end of this year. The unit will meet the raw material need of plastic industries to come up in the plastic park in the vicinity of the oil refinery. 

The IOCL has signed a pact with Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO) to develop the Paradip Plastics Park at an investment of Rs 1.06 billion, he said.

A wide array of stakeholders, including vibrant young entrepreneurs, industry stakeholders and professionals from the plastics and textiles industries participated in the programme.