Bharat Petroleum Corporation will invest Rs.3,500 crore in a facility to produce Bharat Stage Six compliant auto fuel. Approval for the project, to be completed in April 2020, is being sought. The project is part of the roadmap for BPCL investments over the next five years. The technology for the project, which will produce diesel with sulphur content down from the present 50 to 10 ppm, is being identified. The project is also awaiting various clearances.
The ongoing integrated refinery expansion project here will, in addition to raising refining capacity, upgrade the auto fuels from the refinery to Euro V specifications.
Meanwhile, site development work for the petrochemical complex is under way. The petrochemical complex project involves investment of around Rs.5,000 crore. The propylene-based petrochemical unit will churn out products like acrylic acid, acrylates, super absorbent polymer and oxo-alcohol.
The plant capacities include 1,60,000 tonnes of acrylic acid a year; 1,90,000 tonnes of acrylate and 2,12,000 tonnes of oxo alcohols.
Green nod
The environmental clearance for the project was announced in May last year. The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation had taken up the task of setting up a 100-acre petrochemicals park.
The park was planned to be completed in tune with the completion of BPCL’s petrochemicals complex in 2018. However, the plan by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation is learnt to have lagged.
