IndianOil’s Haldia expansion plan on despite land crunch
New Delhi   30-Nov-2007
IndianOil is trying to fit the expansion of the Haldia refinery within the plants 500-acre property near the port town. It has managed to secure only 82 acres of the extra 210 acres, which it had sought to acquire. The oil major has decided to go ahead with its refinery's expansion from 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 7.5 mpta. The company also set up a plant to make Paraxylene and propylene, as the rupee's appreciation against the dollar has somewhat offset the surge in crude petroleum prices that is adding to its losses. IndianOil had been eyeing the adjacent land leased to Hindustan Fertilizer Corp (HFC). But, with the government deciding to revive the closed plants of HFC and Fertilizer Corp of India (FCI), IndianOil may have to be content with just 82 acres that HFC has surrendered to the Kolkata Port Trust, which owns the land. "We have 82 acres in hand. We are going to expand our plant to 7.5 million (tonne per annum) and set up a petrochemical facility," IndianOil's chairman Sarthak Behuria said. The facility would make Paraxylene and propylene, for which a ready customer is the nearby plant of MCC PTA India Corp India Ltd, a unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. The MCPI plant makes purified terephthalic acid (PTA).