Indian Oil to proceed with Paradip project

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has obtained financial closure for its new Paradip refinery project which is slated for start-up in 2011 or 2012 Mathew George, IOC’s senior petrochemicals marketing manager, said. The Paradip refinery is still at the conceptualization stage, and IOC’s tentative plans include two world-scale steam crackers that can each produce 850,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) of ethylene. Other downstream plants such as paraxylene, purified terephthalic acid, benzene, polypropylene, polyethylene, monoethylene glycol and styrene monomer are being planned. The Paradip project was approved in 1998 as a nine million mtpy refinery, with the initial target for commissioning set for 2001, but was delayed due to tax concessions from the Orissa state government, fears of surplus refining capacity in India and rising project costs. (November 18, 2008)