The polyols project planned by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) at its Kochi refinery site has been abandoned after the oil company spent ₹425.9 crore on site development, project management consultancy, and preparation of a detailed project.
The information was provided by Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli in reply to a question from Hibi Eden, MP, said a communication here.
The Minister also said that the project was abandoned as there was a substantial increase in project cost, and that it was no longer commercially viable.
BPCL sources said the money had been spent on acquiring land and land preparation, and such assets would be used for future projects.
India imported 1,69,499 tonnes of polyols in 2020-21. In 2019-20, the import was 2,39,755 tonnes, the communication added.
The Minister said that in order to promote the domestic manufacture of polyols, the government had reduced the import duty of polyproplyene oxide, the principal raw material for production of polyols, from 7.5% to 5.5% in 2018-19.
