OREANDA-NEWS. Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent charge) Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan laid the foundation of Rs.3150 Crore Poly-Propylene Plant at IndianOil's Paradip Refinery Project complex, Paradip on 16th November,2014. Cabinet Minister for Co-operation and Excise Odisa and MLA, Paradip Dr. Damodar Rout, Cabinet Minister for Industries, School and Mass Education, Odisha Mr. Debi Prasad Mishra and Member of Parliament, Jagatsinghpur, Dr. Kulamani Samal were present on the occasion.

Addressing the gathering Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan described the project as a dawn of new era for the industrial development. Emphasising the need for faster pace of Industrial development to realize Prime Minister's dreams, Shri Pradhan said that this Poly Propylene plant will also pave way for developing Petrochemical Hub in this zone, he added. Polypropylene produced by this unit of IndianOil's Paradip Refinery will be used in ancillaries to make moulded furniture, packaging material, containers, medical disposables, adhesive tapes etc.

Referring to the future plans in this direction, the Union minister said that IndianOil is also evaluating the feasibility of setting up of Ethylene Derivative Plant at an estimated cost of nearly 4000 crore. This will indeed act as a catalyst in the socio economic development of the country and the state in particular. This plant will provide products that will facilitate manufacturing of Polyester Chips, Fibers, PET bottles ,PET Chips, Polyester yarn etc.

Earlier, Chairman, IndianOil, Mr. B Ashok outlined the key benefits of the project aligning with the coming up of Paradip Refinery slated to be commissioned this fiscal. The upcoming, Paradip Refinery is IndianOil's most prestigious and capital intensive project till date and this will be the 11th refinery of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. It is configured to contribute enormously to the capacity and profitability of IndianOil and the nation as a whole. Upon its commissioning, the state of Orissa and the entire Eastern Region would get a boost, said Shri Ashok.

IndianOil Director, (Refineries), Mr. Sanjiv Singh welcomed the dignitaries and spoke about IndianOil's foray in Petrochemicals. The laying of the foundation stone of the 700 TMTPA Poly-Propylene (PP) Unit marks the first step in the direction of integration and progress. The consumption of Polypropylene in India has seen a steady rise in the last decade and the trend is likely to continue with the increased use of plastics in automotive, processing and packaging industries.

With the commissioning of PP Unit, expected to be commissioned in the next three years, a number of plastic processing Industries will also come up in the area, paving way for the development of a petrochemical hub in this zone.

Paradip Refinery will be catering to the energy needs of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and West Bengal.

This project truly demonstrates that IndianOil is keenly and aggressively pursuing its business goals of being an integrated energy company. With the commissioning of IndianOil's 15 MMTPA grassroots refinery at Paradip, IndianOil shall be further augmenting its refining capacity, taking it over 80.0 MMTPA.