The project, to be integrated within Indian Oil’s refinery at the site, will produce 800,000 t/y of PX and 1.2 million t/y PTA, with completion scheduled by early 2024. In addition, the complex will produce 50,000 t/y of toluene to feed downstream production of toluene diisocyanate, chlorotoluene, nitrotoluene and cresols.

Indian Oil’s chairman Shri Vaidya said the plants, along with a previously announced monoethylene glycol (MEG) unit, will be a ready source of feedstock for the company’s upcoming 300,000 t/y textile yarn manufacturing project at Bhadrak in Odisha, also similarly facilitating other textile and polyester projects in the region. Construction of the 357,000 t/y MEG plant is underway and operations are due to start toward the end of 2021.

“We are sure that these investments, along with investments in other downstream projects, will boost entrepreneurship not only in Odisha but in the entire Eastern India that would contribute to the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ vision of our nation,” Vaidya said.

Atmanirbhar Bharat,, which means “self-reliant India”, is a special economic package announced by prime minister Narendra Modi in May this year, to spur the country’s shift to self-sufficiency during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is focused on strengthening local markets, production and supply chains.

The primary goal of Modi’s Make in India initiative, launched in September 2014, is to transform the country into a global manufacturing hub by encouraging both multinational and domestic companies to manufacture their products in India.

Indian Oil added that the commissioning of the PX/PTA and MEG products will raise the petrochemical intensity of the Paradip refinery to 14.7 from the present level of 4.5. The company commissioned a 680,000 t/y PP plant at Paradip in February 2019.