IOCL's Rs 31 billion Paradip unit to start production this month

Oil marketing major Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) plans to start production from its polypropylene unit at Paradip by December end this year.

“The 15 million tonne refinery is already producing diesel, petrol, kerosene etc. By December this year, production will start from the polypropylene unit. Keeping in mind the requirement , the capacity of the refinery will also be enhanced at Paradip”, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister of petroleum and natural gas told media persons on the sidelines of 19th National Conference on Corrosion Control. The conference is organized by IOCL with National Corrosion Council of India and CSIR- Central Electrochemical Research Institute.

The unit is being set up at an estimated 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.

The oil marketing company has also got the approval of its board to set up a second unit- the mono ethylene glycol plant at a cost of Rs 38 billion.]

Similarly, two projects –the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant and petcoke gasification based synthetic ethanol plant would together cost IOCL Rs 280 billion and are due to be commissioned by September 2021.

On the crude oil refinery spread over 3,300 acres, the oil behemoth has already invested Rs 350 billion. The company has pledged to invest Rs 517.8 billion more on various components of the petrochemical complex.

“Corrosion is a big issue with the proliferation of metal industries, steel plant , pipelines and delivery points”, Pradhan said in his inaugural address at the conference.