IOCL to sign MoU for naphtha cracker unit, lay foundation for yarn project in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) will set up a naphtha cracker project with an investment of more than Rs 61,000 crore at Paradip in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district soon.
IOCL chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney informed this to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi during a meeting at Lokseva Bhavan here on Tuesday. He discussed the progress of various ongoing and upcoming projects of IOCL in Odisha.
During the meeting it was decided that IOCL and the Odisha government will sign a memorandum of understanding for the naphtha cracker project in January.
The project was part of the IOCL’s investment proposal of Rs 1,00,300 crore that had received the in-principle approval of the state government in August last year. The investment proposals included expansion of its Paradip refinery – from 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 25 MTPA besides the naphtha cracker unit.
The chief minister’s office said the naphtha cracker unit is likely to be one of the largest projects in the sector in the country. The state government is an equity holder of this project, and it will earn dividends in addition to taxes, the CMO said in a statement.
It was also decided that the foundation for the upcoming yarn project of IOCL at Bhadrak will be laid in January. The project will come up in Bhandaripokhari textile park at an investment of Rs 4,382 crore in collaboration with leading chemical company MCPI Pvt Ltd.
The board of the central public sector enterprise had approved an equity contribution of Rs 657.33 crore for the yarn project recently. Once the project is completed, various large scale garment manufacturing units will come up in the area. The naphtha cracker unit and the yarn project will create huge employment opportunities for the youth.
This apart, the decision was taken for commissioning of the para-xylene purified terephthalic acid (PX-PTA ) project in the petrochemical complex at Paradip by June 2025. The unit set up at an investment of around Rs 12,000 crore will produce 8 lakh tonne of paraxylene (PX) and 12 lakh tonne of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) per year.
It is part of IOCL’s plan to increase its downstream refining and petrochemical operations to meet India’s growing demand for plastics and textiles. The progress and status of several other ongoing and upcoming projects of IOCL including a floating solar project and ethanol project in the state were also discussed.
Industries minister Sampad Chandra Swain, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja, additional chief secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal and industries principal secretary Hemant Sharma were present. IOCL executive director Abhijit Chakraborty and chief general manager Dhananjaya Sahoo accompanied Sahney.
