New Construction in Petrochemical

Barauni Petrochemical Plant
Facility Type:	Petrochemical
Scope:	New Construction
Owner:	GAIL (India) Limited; Indian Oil Corp. Ltd.
Location:	Barauni  India
Region:	Central & Southern Asia
Modified:  November 03, 2008

Project description

GAIL (India) Limited and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOCL) on Oct. 31, 2008, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly explore the possibility of setting up a mixed-feed cracker complex based on naphtha and natural at Barauni in India's Bihar state. The estimated $2-billion petrochemical plant would cater to India's growing polymers market and the ready availability of naphtha and natural gas from domestic sources.

As a result of the MoU, GAIL and IOCL will form a joint working committee consisting of two representatives from each company. The committee will conduct a techno-economic feasibility study of the project, including feedstock (naphtha and natural gas) management.

GAIL will assess natural gas availability from the offshore Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin, including the potential for using the rich gas to be used as part of the feedstock for the project and determining how to distribute the gas from the field to the project site. GAIL will subsequently develop an appropriate definitive agreement for supplying the gas to the joint venture -- once a JV is formed.

IOCL's role in the study will focus on assessing the availability of off-gas and naphtha -- not only from its Barauni refinery but also from its other operating refineries. In addition, the company will investigate the modality for transporting the off-gas and naphtha to the project location. Once a JV is formed, IOCL will develop appropriate definitive agreement(s) for supplying these primary feedstocks for the proposed plant.

Key Stats

Capacity: 300,000 tons per year

Cost: INR100B (US$2B)

Dahej Petrochemical Complex
Facility Type:	Petrochemical
Scope:	New Construction
Owner:	ONGC Petro-additions, Ltd. (OPaL)
Location:	Dahej Special Economic Zone, Gujarat state  India
Region:	Central & Southern Asia
Modified:  January 05, 2009

Project description

Through the special purpose vehicle (SPV) ONGC Petro-additions Ltd. (OPaL), India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has proposed building a petrochemical complex in the Dahej Special Economic Zone (D-SEZ) in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

The planned complex will comprise an ethylene cracker and associated units and polymer plants to manufacture 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene, 400,000 tonnes of propylene, 150,000 tonnes of benzene, and 115,000 tonnes of butadiene per year.

The ethylene cracker, which will be built on a turnkey basis by a consortium of The Linde Group and Samsung Engineering, will be the largest such plant in India. In this project, Linde will provide the steam cracker technology, perform basic engineering, and supply critical components. Samsung will perform the detail engineering, supply the remaining components, and construct and assemble the plant.

The complex, which will serve as the anchor industry in D-SEZ, will help to develop various plastic processing industries within the zone and take advantage of export opportunities, according to ONGC.

ONGC owns a 26% stake in the project and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. owns 5%. According to media reports cited in a November 2008 Dow Jones Newswires article about the project, ONGC intends to sell up to a 25% stake in the venture to raise funds given the current state of the global credit market. Also, the reports stated that Gail (India) Ltd. has approved taking up to a 19% stake in OPaL. The anticipated completion date of the complex is late 2012.

Key Stats

Major process units: ethylene plant; associated units and polymer plants

Products: ethylene; propylene; benzene; butadiene

Capacities: 1.1M tonnes per annum ethylene; 400,000 t/a propylene; 150,000 t/a benzene; 115,000 t/a butadiene

Cost: INR135B (approx. US$2.7B)

Contractors: The Linde Group-Samsung Engineering consortium (turnkey ethylene plant)