Page 48 - Plastics News June 2017

BUSINESS NEWS

IOC, BPCL, HPCL sign agreement Adnoc and OMV to work

to set up $30 bn refinery together to help grow Adnoc’s

tate-owned oil firms IOC, BPCL and HPCL signed an downstream businesses

Sagreement to jointly set up India's biggest refinery at
Ratnagiri district ofMaharashtra at a cost of $30 billion n MOU has been signed by two companies- Abu
or Rs two lakh crore. According to reports Indian Oil Corp ADhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to work
(IOC) will be the lead partner with 50 per cent stake together with the Austrian producer OMV to help grow
while Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Adnoc’s downstream businesses. The memorandum of
Petroleum Corp Ltd understanding covers cooperation on new downstream
(BPCL) will take 25 projects, refining operations, refinery-petrochemical
per cent stake each. integration and optimisation, and technical and
The pact was signed maintenance support. Adnoc has set a target to grow
by IOC Chairman domestic petrochemicals production capacity to 11.4
Sanjiv Singh, HPCL mln tpa by 2025 from 4.5 mln tons last year. "This
Ch airma n a nd agreement provides the opportunity to work with OMV
Managing Director to identify areas for mutual collaboration that will
MukeshKumar Surana contribute to our plans to maximise the value from
and BPCL Chairman and Managing Director D Rajkumar. It our assets and operations. It will provide access to the
is also learnt that the 60 million tonnes capacity refinery in-depth knowledge and experience of OMV, in refining
at Babulwadi, Taluka Rajapur in Ratnagiri district is being operations and petrochemicals, enhancing our own
set up keeping in mind the future fuel demand and the
export potential of the country.
The refinery and the accompanying mega petrochemical
complex will be set up in two phases. Phase-1 will be
40 million tonnes together with an aromatic complex,
naphtha cracker and polymer complex. Phase-1 will cost
Rs 1.2-1.5 lakh crore and will come up in five-six years
from the date of land acquisition, they said. The entire
refinery will include three crude units of 20 million tonnes
each — first of these will be part of phase-1.

The second phase will cost Rs 50,000-60,000 crore, they
said. IOC has been looking at West coast for a refinery
as catering to customers in West and South was difficult
with its refineries mostly in the North. HPCL and BPCL experience and skills, as we focus on delivering the
have also been looking at a bigger refinery because of company’s strategic objectives," said Sultan Al Jaber,
constraints they face at their Mumbai units. The refinery the Adnoc chief executive and Minister of State.
will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for
making petrochemicals that are basic building blocks in "Together...we have the opportunity to expand our
plastic, chemical and textile industries. Fifteen million cooperation across the entire value chain, from
tonnes a year is the biggest refinery any public sector upstream to downstream, including petrochemicals. We
unit has set up in one stage. IOC has 11 refineries with a will have a close exchange of expertise that will enable
total capacity of 81.2 million tonnes while BPCL has four us to make our outstanding, long-term partnership
refineries with a total capacity of 33.4 million tonnes. with Adnoc even stronger," said Rainer Seele, the
HPCL has three refineries with a total capacity of 24.8 chief executive of OMV, which produces petrochemical
million tonnes. products as well as oil and gas.

Plastics News | June 2017 48