The PP plant is part of IOC’s Barauni refinery expansion, raising crude processing capacity by 60,000 b/d to 180,000 b/d by 2024.
India is expanding its domestic PP supplies to reduce its reliance on imports. IOC started up a new 680,000 t/yr PP plant at its Paradip refinery in east India’s Odisha in 2019 that was fully operational in 2020. More expansions are expected this year with HMEL on track to start up its new 500,000 t/yr PP plant at Bhatinda in north India’s Punjab state in this year’s final quarter.
PP demand has been weak in India, with the latest wave of Covid-19 limiting downstream manufacturing activity. Import prices had been on a falling trend, with the emergence of competitively priced China-origin PP raffia adding downwards pressure on prices between March and May. Argus assessed PP raffia at $1,180-1,200/t cfr India on 2 July.
By Matthew Rajendra
Source : Argus Media
