IOC to set up petrochemical hub in West Bengal
27 Sep 2006
Mumbai: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has signed an agreement with the West Bengal government for setting up a petrochemical hub in the state. The company would be the primary investor in the proposed hub housing petrol, chemical and petrochemical units. IOC has proposed to develop a 15-million tonne grassroot refinery, marking its push into the refinery business.
The petrochemical hub would come up on 10,000 acre in the special economic zone (SEZ) and will have downstream units like paraxylene, polyester, polymer and benzene etc, IOC chairman Sarthak Behuria told reporters.
He said IOC jointly with the West Bengal government would carry out a techno-economic feasibility study for setting up the grassroot refinery and downstream petrochemical facilities.
Behuria said IOC's investment in the chemical hub was yet to be finalised as the 15-million tonne grassroot refinery alone would require an investment of Rs15,000 crore. IOC, he said, was carrying out techno-feasibility study for a world-class paraxylene unit at Haldia.