Barauni may be made petrochemical hub

25-Jan-08

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has discussed the possibility of setting up a petrochemical hub at Barauni, Bihar, with various stakeholders including Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), GAIL and Engineers India Ltd. The Ministry has sought additional gas for making Barauni into a petrochemical hub, and has also asked for expansion of GAIL (India) Ltd's pipeline network in the region, as the current availability of naphtha from the Barauni Refinery, may not support a petrochemical complex in the region. However, planned further expansions could also extend the possibility of fuel oil availability, to facilitate the petrochemical hub. The proposed petrochemical complex may facilitate growth of both downstream upstream industries in the region. The existing Barauni Refinery of IOC after de-bottlenecking, revamping, and expansion project has an installed capacity of 6 mln tpa. Barauni Refinery was initially designed to process low sulphur crude-oil (sweet crude) of Assam. With various revamps and expansion projects, the refinery has the capability of processing high-sulphur crude (sour crude), which is cheaper than low sulphur crude.