State owned Indian refinery BPCL has suspended the work on its specialty petrochemicals plant in Kochi in south India to produce polyols because of uncertainty surrounding the company's privatisation plans.
The polyols project, which has not progressed beyond the design stage, was earlier scheduled for completion in 2024 with key contracts scheduled to be finalised later this year, industry participants said. The impending privatisation will delay the contracts as BPCL may prefer a new owner to take the decisions.
The Rs55bn propylene derivatives petrochemical project at the company's 310,000 b/d Kochi refinery is also delayed to April this year from an already revised September 2020 deadline because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic had delayed construction of the plant and other associated chemical projects because the technology licence holders were in Europe and unable to travel to India, BPCL said.
