MOSCOW (MRC) -- GAIL (India) Ltd, the state-owned natural gas transportation and distribution utility, is planning to spend Rs 751 crore to add a new 60 Kilo Tonne Per Annum (KTPA) polypropylene (PP) unit at its Pata petrochemical complex in Uttar Pradesh, according to EconomicTimes.
PP is a thermoplastic used in the making of consumer products, plastic parts for automobile industry and textiles, apart from other applications.
The complex produces low and high density polyethylene (HDPE) from ethylene produced from the cracking of ethane and propane. In the process, the cracker also produces around 50 KTPA of polymer grade propylene which the company expects to use as a feed-stock for the proposed PP unit.
"GAIL is planning to utilize this propylene to set up a 60 KTPA Polypropylene unit in the existing complex at Pata. The proposed facility will be set-up along with the existing facilities at Pata," the company said in an application seeking clearance from the environment ministry.
The integrated gas-based petrochemical complex at Pata has been operational since 1999. It recovers ethane-propane from natural gas coming from Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline and converts it into petrochemicals.
The polymer production capacity of the Pata petrochemical complex doubled to 810 KTA last financial year (2018-2019) from 410 KTA earlier, according to GAIL’s latest annual report.
"Overall production from the Pata complex in 2018-19 was 751 KTA. The company exported 110 KTA of polymers to Asian markets. The company's market share in the domestic polyethylene market has been maintained and is the second-largest player in the Indian market with a portfolio of over 1,000 KTA of polyethylene," it said.
The company’s board has also approved a Rs 8,800 crore project for the revival of an existing LPG plant at Usar in Maharashtra by converting it into 500 KTA Polypropylene complex. This would be a first-of-its-kind project in the country using propane dehydrogenation technology for production of Propylene integrated with the downstream Polypropylene unit.
GAIL marketed around 1,000 KTA of polymers last financial year ended March 2019. Overall, the company's revenue from the petrochemical segment increased 14.50 per cent to Rs 6,704 crore last fiscal. In the first quarter ended June 2019, GAIL's revenue from petrochemical operations declined 31 per cent to Rs 1,113 crore.
As MRC reported earlier, in May 2019, GAIL approved the revival of an existing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant for conversion into a new PP complex in Usar, Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The project is scheduled to be commissioned by fiscal year 2023-2024.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, the estimated consumption of PP in the Russian market totalled 694,210 tonnes in January-June 2019, up by 14% year on year. The supply of propylene block copolymers (PP-block) and propylene homopolymers (PP-homo) increased.
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. It has the following business segments: natural gas, liquid hydrocarbon, liquefied petroleum gas transmission, petrochemicals, city gas distribution, exploration and production, GAILTEL and electricity generation.
MRC