Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) has awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning worth USD 170 million contract to Tecnimont S.p.A. and Tecnimont Private Ltd., which are subsidiaries of Italian downstream engineering firm Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. The project aims to establish a new Polypropylene plant with a capacity of 200 KT at its Barauni Refining complex in Bihar. IOCL’s plan of expansion of the Barauni Refinery is due to the increasing demand of value-added products which is needed to boost the country’s manufacturing industry.

Along with IOCL, State owned GAIL India Ltd. is also aiming for the expansion in petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and renewables under a strategic expansion plan for the next decade. The firm is eyeing to transform an existing LPG plant at Usar in Raigad district of Maharashtra into 500 KT Polypropylene complex with an approximate investment of INR 88000 million by 2023-24. The move is likely to aid the company to explore new opportunities in the petrochemical segment to meet the expected increase in demand of Polyethylene and Polypropylene.

In support of the project, GAIL’s chairman, Manoj Jain said “The gas will remain our core segment, we will look for growth in other areas such as petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, renewables, water, etc. to reach new heights in coming years."

Due to reopening of market and industries after second wave, the demand for Polyethylene is gradually increasing in Southeast Asia owing to the revival in demand from the packaging, automotive, electrical, and several other industries. As per ChemAnalyst,” The upcoming projects of IOCL and GAIL are likely to assist the overall production in the domestic market and will thus aid the country to abate price parity arising from imported goods in times of international shortage.”