 India is amongst the fastest growing petrochemicals markets in the world. Taking
this into consideration and to enhance its downstream integration, IndianOil is
focusing on increasing its presence in the domestic petrochemicals sector besides
the overseas markets through systematic expansion of customer base and innovative
supply logistics.
Petrochemicals have been identified as a prime driver of future growth by IndianOil.
The Corporation is envisaging an investment of Rs 30,000 crore in the petrochemicals
business in the next few years. These projects will utilise product streams from
the existing refineries of IndianOil, thereby achieving better exploitation of the
hydrocarbon value chain.
Beginning with a low-investment, high-value projects such as Methyl Tertiary Butyl
Ether (MTBE) and Butene-1 at Gujarat Refinery, Vadodara, IndianOil has set up a
world-scale Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant at Gujarat Refinery and an integrated
Paraxylene/Purified Terephthalic Acid (PX/PTA) plant at Panipat. A Naphtha Cracker
complex with downstream polymer units is also in operation at Panipat.
 These initiatives are designed to catapult IndianOil among the top three petrochemicals
players in Southeast Asia in the long term.
In order to penetrate the petrochemicals market effectively, a separate Strategic
Business Unit (SBU) has been created in IndianOil for marketing of petrochemicals.
This SBU has five exclusive sub-groups, classified product wise (LAB, PTA, Polymers)
and function wise (Logistics & Exports), in addition to regional/field set-ups to
offer reliable customer service. This SBU has already established IndianOil's LAB
business both in India and abroad. Today, IndianOil is a major supplier to the key
players in the detergent industry, both national and international. Similarly, in
PTA business, all major domestic customers are catered to by IndianOil. A robust
logistics model has been the key to IndianOil's success story and facilities have
been put in place for seamless product dispatches to customers by rail, road and
sea.
Mega Plants:
Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant, Gujarat Refinery:
IndianOil made its big-ticket entry into petrochemicals with the commissioning of
the country’s largest Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant at Gujarat Refinery in August
2004. It is also the largest grassroots single train Kerosene-to-LAB unit in the
world, with an installed capacity of 1,20,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA). Currently,
two grades of LAB – high molecular weight and low molecular weight – are being produced
for manufacture of environment friendly biodegradable detergents. The quality of
the LAB produced here has found wide acceptance in the domestic and overseas markets.
Built at a cost of Rs. 1,248 crore and commissioned in a record 24 months’ time,
the plant produces superior quality LAB for manufacturing environment-friendly biodegradable
detergents. The key raw materials for the plant, catering to domestic as well as
export market requirements meeting the latest and most stringent quality standards,
are Kerosene and Benzene produced at Koyali Refinery.
The LAB unit at Gujarat Refinery achieved 102.8% capacity utilization during the
year 2009-2010. LAB sales touched 126 TMT including export of 19 TMT to 19 countries
during the year 2009-10.
Paraxylene/Purified Terephthalic Acid (PX/PTA), Panipat:
The most technologically advanced plant in the country, the PX/PTA plant marks IndianOil’s
major step towards forward integration in the hydrocarbon value chain by manufacturing
Paraxylene (PX) from captive Naphtha and thereafter, converting it into Purified
Terephthalic Acid (PTA). The integrated Paraxylene/Purified Terephthallic Acid (PX/PTA)
complex was built at a cost of Rs. 5,104 crore within the Panipat Refinery in Haryana.
The PTA Plant is the single largest unit in India with a world-scale capacity of
5,53,000 MTPA, achieving economy of scale. The process package for the PTA plant
was prepared by erstwhile M/s Dupont, UK (now M/s. Invista) and that of the Paraxylene
Unit was prepared by M/s UOP, USA. M/s EIL and M/s Toyo Engineering were the Project
Management Consultants (PMC) for executing the PTA and PX respectively.
The Paraxylene plant is designed to process 5,00,000 MTPA of heart-cut Naphtha to
produce about 3,60,000 MTPA of PX. Naphtha is sourced from IndianOil’s Panipat and
Mathura refineries, for which Naphtha splitter units are set up at the respective
refineries. The PTA unit produces 5,53,000 MTPA of Purified Terephthalic Acid from
Paraxylene.
Naphtha Cracker Plant, Panipat:
 The world-class Naphtha Cracker at Panipat, built at a cost of Rs 14,400 crore,
is the largest operating cracker capacity in India.
The feed for the unit is sourced internally from IndianOil's Koyali, Panipat and
Mathura refineries. The Naphtha Cracker comprises of the following downstream units
- Polypropylene (capacity: 600,000 tonnes), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) (dedicated
capacity: 300,000 tonnes) and Linear Low Density Poly Ethylene (LLDPE) (350,000
tonnes Swing unit with HDPE), Mono Ethylene Glycol(MEG) plant (capacity: 325,000
tonnes).
The cracker will produce over 800,000 tonnes per annum of ethylene, 600,000 tonnes
per annum of Propylene, 125,000 tonnes per annum of Benzene, and other products
viz., LPG, Pyrolysis Fuel Oil, components of Gasoline and Diesel.
The Polypropylene (PP) unit is designed to produce high quality and high value niche
grades including high speed Bi-axially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) (used for food
packaging and laminations), high clarity random co-polymers (used for food containers
and thin walled products) and super impact co-polymer grades (used for batteries,
automobile parts, luggage and heavy duty transport containers). Polyethylene is
used for making injection moulded caps, heavy duty crates, containers, bins, textile
bobbins, luggage ware, thermoware, storage bins, pressure pipes (for gas and water),
small blow-moulded bottles, jerry cans, etc.
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