India's state-controlled refiner BPCL is set to begin construction to expand its 156,000 b/d Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh, targeting to complete it in five years.
BPCL will invest 490bn rupees ($5.9bn) for the expansion. The foundation stone of the project was laid by prime minister Narendra Modi on 14 September, a government press release said.
The capacity of 156,000 b/d Bina refinery would be enhanced to around 221,000 b/d after the expansion, producing more than 2.2mn t/yr of petrochemical products. BPCL had originally planned to complete the expansion project in the next three years.
The expansion, which will include an ethylene cracker complex, will use captive feedstock like naphtha, LPG, kerosene from the refinery. Production of aromatics like benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes will also be produced in the complex. These aromatics have major uses in downstream industries, ancillaries, and service units in household, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors, the release added.
This project is in line with Madhya Pradesh government's vision of setting up a Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR), which it believes will attract major investments in industrial films, fibers, injection molding, blow molding, pipes, conduits and automobile parts.
BPCL aims to have a petrochemical output of 2.5mn t/yr by 2028, finance director Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta had said in August.
BPCL is constructing high-density polyethylene, linear-low density polyethylene and polypropylene units at its Bina refinery.
The Bina ethylene cracker project will increase the share of petrochemicals in BPCL's product portfolio to 8%, chairman and managing director G Krishnakumar said last month, without indicating the current share.
