| At a press conference on Wednesday, S V Narasimhan, managing director said Engineers India had submitted a feasibility report on the project, which. would take about four to five years to be commissioned. |
| The planned size, 150,000 tonne, is less than the international economic size for a polypropylene plant. The company, however, believes the planned size is viable given the projected demand in India |
| Company officials pointed out that a significant extent of polypropylene production in India takes place in the stretch between Mumbai and Vadodara. |
| As polypropylene's applications are many- automobiles, yarn, fibre- officials said that the planned size made sense in the Indian context. |
| The company's plans have come on the heels of the expansion of its refinery capacity. In 2000, Chennai Petroleum started an exercise to add 3 million tonne to its 6.5 million tonne refinery in North Chennai. The LPG output of the 9.5 million tonne refinery would be used in the polypropylene project. |
| The current announcement has come after a troublesome phase between Chennai Petroleum and one its customers for naphtha, Madras Fertilizers. Chennai Petroleum had said that it would cancel sale of naphtha on credit on account of Madras Fertilizers' mounting outstandings. |
| Narasimhan told the media that Madras Fertilizers' outstanding had now mounted to Rs 120 crore. He added that if the outstandings kept on increasing, Chennai Petroleum would have to suspend credit sales and ask Madras Fertilizers' to buy on a cash-and-carry basis. |
Explore Business Standard