Published on June 14, 2017
State-owned refiners Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) will sign a deal today to set up a joint venture refinery-cum-petrochemical complex on coastal Maharashtra, which would be the world’s largest with a capacity of 60 million tones.
The plan to add refining and petrochemical capacity in the country comes in the wake of rising consumption of hydrocarbons and the government’s efforts to make India a regional refining and petrochemical hub.
Indian Oil Corp. will hold 50% stake, while the others will hold 25% each, with a provision for inducting one or more strategic investors at a later stage. The project is estimated to cost $35-40 billion, as per report.
The country at present has about 230 million tonnes of refining capacity and wants to expand the same over the medium term. Several of the refinery byproducts are feedstock for the petrochemical industry and hence, it makes sense to have a petrochemical complex attached to the refinery.
