InterviewAPIC ’10: India’s OPaL to make pipe grade PE - VIDEO

14 May 2010 04:45  [Source: ICIS news]

By Prema Viswanathan

MUMBAI (ICIS news)--India’s ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) is planning to produce metallocene and pipe grades of polyethylene (PE) at its cracker and derivatives complex in Dahej, Gujarat, the firm’s CEO said on Friday.

“We are looking to produce around 35-40,000 tonnes/year of metallocene grade at our PE facility as demand for this grade is expected to be strong in the coming years,” said PK Johri, CEO of OPaL, on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference 2010 (APIC) in Mumbai.

The company was also planning to produce pipe grade high density PE (HDPE) at its 340,000 tonne/year HDPE plant at Dahej, which is part of its 1.06m tonne/year PE facility, he said in an interview.

Besides ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Commission) which holds a 26% stake, OPaL’s current shareholders include Gail India with a 19% stake, and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), which has a 5% share.

The company’s 1.1m tonnes/year cracker will use dual feedstocks - ethane and naphtha - sourced from ONGC.

Besides the HDPE plant, the units downstream of the cracker include two swing lines of HDPE/linear low density (PE) of 360,000 tonnes/year each, a 340,000tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant and a 95,000tonne/year butadiene unit.

While the swing lines would use INEOS technology, the technology for the dedicated HDPE plant had yet to be finalised, he said.

The company had earlier looked at putting up a styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) but have dropped the plan. “We will now sell the butadiene into the merchant market instead of using it captively,” said Johri.

Johri was confident that the company would be able to meet the targeted start up deadline of end-2012, as “we are well ahead of schedule,” he added.

Other major Indian PE and PP producers include Reliance Industries,  Haldia Petrochemicals, Indian Oil Corp and Gail India. 

The two-day APIC conference ends on 14 May.

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By: Prema Viswanathan
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