The Kochi unit of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL) will start up on Monday after a gap of about a month. The resumption of production has been facilitated with the BPCL Kochi refinery resuming supply of benzene to the unit and a technical glitch in the plant having been sorted out.
HOCL unit sources said that it would take a couple of days to stabilize production, which was stopped for about a month with a shortage in benzene supply. The unit requires around 120 tonnes of benzene daily and the raw material is supplied by the Kochi refinery. With the market conditions right, the unit was running smoothly until the shortage in benzene supply. The sources pointed out that the unit had made a profit of around ₹4 crore before the current spell of production stoppage.
They said the technical glitch was minor. Earlier it was expected that production could resume last week.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Union government has once again asked the State whether it was in a position to take over the HOCL unit at Ambalamugal. Earlier, the Union government had sent in the same query. The State had expressed its inability to take over the unit for financial reasons. However, the employees and officers favoured the State takeover.
