India's IOL invests Rs 4.95 billion to expand chemical and pharmaceutical capacity

en.Wedoany.com Reported - India's Haldia Petrochemicals announced that it is working with Lummus Technology to advance a revamp plan for its existing naphtha cracker, aiming to raise the substitution ratio of liquefied petroleum gas in cracker feedstock to as high as 30%. The company plans to finalize the specific revamp plan by the end of 2026 to improve feedstock flexibility and reduce supply risks associated with sole reliance on imported naphtha.

Haldia Petrochemicals' integrated petrochemical complex in West Bengal, India, has a naphtha cracker with an annual ethylene capacity of 700,000 tons, supported by polyethylene, polypropylene, butadiene, benzene extraction and other downstream production facilities. The complex is also equipped with a 116 MW captive power plant, water treatment facilities, and feedstock and product pipelines connected to the jetty, making it one of the major petrochemical production bases in eastern India.

The focus of this revamp is not to add a separate standalone cracker, but to add LPG feedstock adaptability to the existing cracking system. After the revamp is completed, Haldia Petrochemicals can adjust the feed ratio between naphtha and LPG based on feedstock supply and price changes. CEO Navanit Narayan said the company is currently studying the technical revamp with Lummus, with the goal of achieving up to 30% LPG substitution capability, and will finalize the implementation plan by the end of the year.

The company's existing long-term naphtha supply sources include QatarEnergy, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and ADNOC Global Trading. After recent disruptions to Middle East shipping, some long-term contract cargoes were affected, and Haldia Petrochemicals temporarily turned to the spot market to supplement feedstock. After the LPG revamp is completed, the company plans to use both domestic Indian and imported LPG resources, with local supply potentially coming from the Indian Oil Petronas facility adjacent to its production base.

In addition to the cracker feedstock revamp, Haldia Petrochemicals is currently expanding its downstream chemical product capacity. The company currently has about 491,000 tons per year of chemical processing capacity and about 1 million tons per year of polymer processing capacity, and plans to commission a new phenol and acetone unit in October 2026. The LPG adaptability revamp of the cracker will directly affect the upstream feedstock system of the entire petrochemical complex and influence the feedstock configuration for subsequent ethylene and downstream polymer production.