IOC to invest Rs900 crore in synthetic rubber JV

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will invest Rs900 crore in a joint venture with Taiwan's TSRC Corporation and Japan's Marubeni Corporation to set up of a state-of-the-art styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) unit at Panipat, Punjab.

The plant will have an annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes per annum and the SBR unit will utilise butadiene feed from IOC's Panipat naphtha cracker complex to produce high quality synthetic rubber used in the manufacture of automotive tyres, conveyors, fan belts, etc.

IOC chairman B M Bansal, TSRC Corporation CEO and president Wei-Hua Tu, Marubeni Corporation managing executive K Hatta and TTC director Wing Keung Hendrick Lam signed the agreement on 3 March.

IndianOil will have 50 per cent stake in the JV while TSRC and Marubeni will hold 30 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. The project is targeted for completion by September 2012.

SBR is a specialty petrochemical product with a robust growing demand in India. SBR is used as an alternative fed stock for the manufacture of rubber products in the country.

Currently, India meets the entire domestic demand for SBR through imports. The setting up of the SBR unit at Panipat is also expected to add value to the intermediate streams of IndianOil's Panipat naphtha cracker complex.

IndianOil is India's flagship downstream petroleum company with a growing presence across the hydrocarbon value chain. TSRC is the SBR technology provider and a leading producer & supplier of synthetic rubbers.

Marubeni is one of the largest general trading companies in Japan engaged in the trading of commodities including but not limited to oil, gas, chemicals, metals, machineries, foods, etc on a global level, IOC said in its release.