Indian Oil Corp., announced that it will build an integrated para-xylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) complex at Paradip, Odisha, India, with an investment of Rs 138 billion ($1.8 billion).
The company expects to bring it online in early 2024.
The petrochemicals complex will have a PX production capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year, which will pr vide the feedstock for the 1.2 million tonnes per year PTA line.
The PX-PTA complex will be integrated with Indian Oil’s Paradip Refinery, which has been operational since 2015.
Indian Oil chairman SM Vaidya said: “This plant, along with the upcoming MEG (Mono-Ethylene Glycol) plant of 357 kilo tonnes per annum capacity at Paradip, would be a ready source of feedstock for Indian Oil’s upcoming 300 kilo tonnes per annum textile yarn manufacturing project at Bhadrak in Odisha, and can similarly facilitate other textile and polyester projects in the region.”
“We are sure that these investments, along with investments in other downstream projects, will boost entrepreneurship not only in Odisha but in the entire Eastern India that would contribute to the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ vision of our nation,” he added.
The MEG unit is expected to become operational towards the end of 2021, the IOC statement said.
The PX-PTA project is estimated to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for more than 2,000 people over the three-year construction period.
IOC already operates a 680,000 tonne per year polypropylene (PP) unit comprising two lines of 340,000 tonnes per year each at the site.
Once operational, all these units will help provide the feedstock for the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) that the Indian government plans to set up in Paradip, IOC said in its statement.