Indian Oil bets big on petrochemicals segment

NEW DELHI: State-run oil marketing and refining major Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) has lined up an investment of Rs  17,825 crore for its Petrochemical and Lube Integration project at its Gujarat Refinery. According to its chairman Shrikant M Vaidya, the petrochemicals sector offers a lucrative opportunity for the company, which is already the second largest Indian firm in the space.

Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting on Monday, Vaidya noted that it was focused on entering into new petrochemicals segments such as polyester filament yarn, polyester staple fibre, polybutadiene rubber and ammonium thiosulphate along the COTC value-chain.

Vaidya also expects petrol and diesel demand to reach pre-Covid levels in a quarter stating that there has been a “phenomenal improvement” in the first half of September.

IOC’s diesel sales rose 22 per cent sequentially in the first fortnight of September but was down 9 per cent year-on-year whereas petrol sales are up 9 per cent month-on-month and registered growth of 1 per cent vis-a-vis September 2019.