Kochi fast emerging as petrochemical hub

KOCHI: Kochi is set to become a major hub for the petrochemical industry in India with the BPCL Kochi Refinery,  Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) and  Kerala  Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) joining hands to develop a petrochemical park at Ambalamugal in Kochi.

BPCL Kochi Refinery has already successfully completed its Integrated Refinery Expansion Project (IREP), making it the largest public-sector refinery in terms of capacity. The Propylene Derivative Petrochemical Project (PDPP), which is expected to be commissioned in early 2019 will make available speciality petrochemicals such as acrylic acid, butyl acrylate, ethyl hexyl acrylate, normal butanol, isobutanol and ethylhexanol.

“These and other raw materials produced at the unit can be used by downstream companies for the manufacture of a range of products including acrylic paints, solvents, coatings, adhesives and resins,” said A N Sriram, general manager, petchem division, BPCL Kochi Refinery. He added that BPCL Kochi is studying the feasibility of producing another set of speciality petrochemicals like propylene oxide, propylene glycol, polyether polyols, ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol. “This also provides opportunities for downstream small and medium scale industries,” Sriram noted.

“The proposed park is expected to benefit potential downstream  petrochemical industries, which can use the raw materials available from PDPP,”  said Wing Commander K A Santhosh Kumar, MD of Kinfra, the agency responsible for developing the  proposed park. “The park is coming up on 470 acres of land purchased from FACT. An area of 30-40 acres in the park will be earmarked for pharma companies’’ he added.

As many as 25 companies including two international companies have so far evinced interest in the project, said KSIDC Kochi general manager K G Ajith Kumar. “These include Manali Petrochemicals, Mitsubishi Corporation, Indigo Paints, BASF,  Huntsman India, JCK Coatings and Krishna Antioxidants are some of the companies that already expressed interest in the project,” he added.

The Kerala government will hold a Petrochemical Investor Meet in Kochi on December 18, where  potential investors will get an insight into the downstream opportunities based on feedstock available from BPCL Kochi Refinery.  The meet  will  also highlight the investment opportunities, infrastructure, facilities, downstream possibilities, product demand and potential markets available.