GANDHINAGAR: Public sector undertaking Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) signed six memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with the Gujarat government in Gandhinagar on Monday to invest a sum of Rs 24,000 crore in expanding refining capacity at its Koyali refinery in Vadodara, and adding plants to produce polypropelene and lube oil base stock.
The ventures are likely to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for 25,000 persons.
Union minister for petroleum, natural gas and steel, Dharmendra Pradhan and chief minister Vijay Rupani presided over the ceremony of ‘Investment Promotion’ between the state government and Indian Oil for setting up a petrochemical and lube integration (LuPech) project and acrylics/oxo alcohol project along with other infrastructure projects at Gujarat Refinery,” a statement said on Monday.
Expanding refining capacity by 4.3 million tonnes per annum to 18 million tonnes and adding plants to produce 500,000 tonnes per annum of polypropylene and 2,35,000 tonnes of lube oil base stock at the site would see a total investment of about Rs 24,000 crore.
The LuPech project will produce import substitutes like Lube Oil Base Stock (LOBS) and polypropylene.
The acrylics/oxo alcohol project at Dumad and Gujarat Refinery will manufacture value-added Butyl Acrylate, a key ingredient for paints, coatings, adhesives, textile chemicals, plasticizer industry, and other similar products.
MoUs were also signed for infrastructure facilities at Dumad for Koyali-Ahmednagar-Solapur pipeline and tank truck loading facility for linear alkyl benzene (LAB) — a feed-stock for detergent industries.
The other infrastructure projects envisaged are a new flare system at the Gujarat refinery and a hydrogen-dispensing facility for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV).
IOC Chairman S M Vaidya said, “Gujarat refinery is now poised to grow to 18 MMTPA capacity.
New units for the production of polypropylene, butylacrylate and lube oil base stocks will also be added to the refinery’s portfolio”.
These projects, he said, will enable large-scale direct and indirect employment opportunities during the peak construction period and later for the operation of these facilities.
CM Vijay Rupani said Gujarat is a leader in the country in gas and petrochemicals sector and investments in this sector will assist “downstream industries” as well.
He added that while big investments were welcome, the state is also ensuring that a conducive environment is created for small and medium enterprises to thrive.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, while congratulating IOC and the state government for the investment pact, said that Gujarat has led the way in use of natural gas to reduce pollution.