Assam’s Petro Chemical, a renowned public sector petrochemical company in India has announced that its’ much awaited project is ready for commissioning. The project comprises a Methanol plant having a capacity of 500 tonnes per day (TPD), which is likely to increase the company’s existing capacity from 100 TPD to 600 TPD. The commissioning will thus induce a drastic jump from 33,000 to 198,000 tonnes in the total annual production of Methanol from Assam Petrochemicals.

In an attempt to bring down the imports of crude oil from international market, NITI Aayog has proposed 15 percent blending of Methanol with Petrol since its prices are lesser than that of Ethanol. As Methanol demand in India is projected to witness an unprecedented growth till 2030, addition of Methanol capacity in the country would fairly support its economy by assisting it in cutting short the oil import bill by around 10 percent. 

As per ChemAnalyst, “As near about 80 percent of India’s demand for Methanol is met through imports from Middle East, the project is perceived as a big step towards government’s motive of Atma Nirbhar Bharat as it will aid the country in reducing its import dependency. However, the plans could only be executed if the government delivers proposed cargoes of Natural Gas cargoes to the plant without delay.”