MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indian Oil Corp., and Total have announced the formation of a 50:50 joint venture (JV) company that will manufacture and market bitumen derivatives and specialty products for the growing road-building industry in India, according to BusinessWire.
Total is the leading bitumen manufacturer and supplier in Europe, while IndianOil is the largest player in the Indian bitumen market. The two companies have already an established business relationship in India, notably in LPG and fuel additives businesses.
The new JV will manufacture and market innovative bitumen formulations and products such as polymer-modified bitumen, crumb rubber modified bitumen, bitumen emulsions and other specialty products. The JV will set up manufacturing units across the country and also explore possibilities to cater to other South Asian markets.
“India is a strategic country for the future of Total and we are delighted by this partnership, yet another testimony of our commitment to this fast-growing market,” highlighted Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of Total. “Today, Total is further cementing its longstanding business cooperation with IndianOil, into a strong and sustainable new partnership. With this agreement, we are pursuing the growth of businesses with key Indian energy players, adding to our ongoing developments in renewables, gas and power.”
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman of IndianOil said: “The IndianOil-Total joint venture company would combine IndianOil’s credentials as India’s Flagship National Oil Company and the Total’s strength as an International Energy Major. This would cater to B2B customers involved in road infrastructure development, both in the government and private sectors and I am confident that this would start a revolution in road construction activities in the country by providing superior technology products at competitive prices”.
He added: “This joint venture company would bring in latest technologies and formulations for Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB) and other fast-growing non-conventional derivatives such as Cold Mix & Micro Emulsion, Block Bitumen, etc. to the Indian market. The operations of this JV would commence by taking over an existing plant of Total at Jodhpur and subsequently set up new Greenfield plants”.
The Government of India has a strong focus on developing the country’s road infrastructure with mega projects like the ‘Bharatmala project’ which envisages development of 34 800 km of roads at an estimated investment of over Rs. 5 lakh crore in the first phase (equivalent to approximately USUSD66 billion).
As MRC reported before, in November 2019, Total disclosed that itis evaluating construction of a new gas cracker at its Deasan, South Korea, joint venture (JV) with Hanwha Chemical.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or IndianOil, is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.
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