Indian Oil lets contract for major unit at Paradip petrochemical complex

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC) has let a contract to Technip Energies NV to provide a suite of services for new unit to be installed at IOC’s proposed petrochemical complex to be built nearby and integrated with the operator’s existing 15-million tonnes/year (tpy) refinery in Paradip, Odisha, on India’s northeastern coast.

Under the June 20 contract, Technip Energies will license its proprietary technology and deliver the basic engineering design package for the proposed 1.5-million tpy naphtha cracking unit for the complex’s production of ethylene, the service provider said.

Technip Energies—which valued the contract between €50 million and €250 million—confirmed its scope of work on the order also covers delivery of key proprietary equipment, including its proprietary Ripple Tray separation trays technology, as well as catalyst supply.

Complex overview

The technology licensing and engineering award follows IOC’s late-March 2023 in-principle approval for execution of preliminary project activities—including preparation of a detailed feasibility report—for setting up the proposed Paradip petrochemical complex (OGJ Online, Apr. 4, 2023). The Stage 1 approval estimates the project at a cost of 610.77 billion rupees ($7.39 billion), which would be IOC’s largest single-site investment ever.

To become one of four of India’s proposed Petroleum, Chemicals, & Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIR), the Paradip petrochemical complex—once completed—will be set up on 284 sq km of land spread over Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts and anchored by IOC’s Paradip refinery and petrochemical units.

Together, the refinery and its existing petrochemical units would supply the proposed complex all necessary feedstock, including monoethylene glycol, petcoke-based synthetic ethanol, and paraxylene-purified terephthalic acid (PX-PTA), according to documentation from India’s National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency.

In addition to the naphtha cracker, IOC and the government of India previously said the Paradip petrochemical complex will house downstream process units for producing derivative products including polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, monoethylene glycol (MEG), among others. The complex also would enable production of niche chemicals such as phenol and isopropyl alcohol.

Earlier in the year, IOC let a contract to Lummus Technology LLC and Eni SPA subsidiary Versalis SPA to jointly deliver technology licensing for a new 400,000-tpy cumene unit to be installed at the planned Paradip petrochemical complex (OGJ Online, Apr. 24, 2024).

IOC said in its most recently released annual report to investors that the Paradip petrochemical complex would be equipped to produce a combined 3 million tpy of polyvinyl chloride, phenol, isopropyl alcohol, and other unidentified polymers.

With draft versions of the Paradip PCPIR’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental management plan (EMP) completed and preparation of the final EIA and EMP reports seemingly still under way, the project will still need to gain approval of its final, comprehensive EIA-EMP from India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (EFCC) to obtain the environmental clearance required to proceed to construction, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals of India’s Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers said.

Neither IOC nor the government of India have officially confirmed details regarding an anticipated timeframe for completion of the entire Paradip PCPIR or other potential operators planning to participate in the project.