India’s top oil company IOC will invest Rs 61,077 crore in building a petrochemical complex at Paradip in Odisha — its largest-ever investment at a single location — as it doubles down on its transition plan.
In a statement, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said its board has given “Stage-1 approval for setting up Paradip petrochemical complex at Paradip, Odisha, at an estimated cost of Rs 61,077 crore.” “This mega project will be the largest-ever investment of IndianOil at a single location,” it said but did not give timelines for completion of the project.
This is a part of its transition plan, including boosting petrochemical intensity to help protect against volatility. Petrochemical intensity refers to the percentage of crude oil that is converted directly into chemicals that are used to make plastic and other material.
IOC’s petrochemical intensity – the percentage of crude oil converted into chemicals- is low at 5-6% currently. The company intends to take it up to 10-12%.
The firm’s newer refineries at Panipat in Haryana and Paradip in Odisha have the petrochemical intensity of 15-20% which would be raised to 25%, its chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya had said last month.
Energy transition refers to the shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption, including oil, natural gas and coal, to renewable energy and lithium-ion batteries. This shift is likely to gradually cut demand for petrol and diesel and so in preparation of that IOC is doing petrochemical projects.
The company said the petrochemical complex at Paradip would include a world-scale cracker unit along with downstream process units for producing several petrochemical products including polypropylene, high density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene and poly vinyl chloride – these being building blocks of different grades of plastics.
