The Indian government is considering construction a new petrochemical investment region at Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the country's media reported Wednesday.
The state government of Kerala has submitted a formal proposal of a Rupee 90 billion ($1.68 billion) project in this regard to the Union ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, India's Business Standard newspaper reported. The Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region will be located close to the refinery of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited at Kochi.
The state government of Kerala wants to establish downstream petrochemical plants at the Kochin PCPIR that use propylene as a feedstock. BPCL announced in June that it has inked a deal with South Korea's LG Chem to set up a fluid catalytic cracker close to BPCL's refinery in Kochi. The FCC will have a capacity to produce 500,000 mt/year of propylene, BPCL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The project will cost Rupee 40 billion to Rupee 60 billion ($745 million-$1.12 billion) and take four years to build, it said.
BPCL is also spending Rupee 140 billion ($2.61 billion) to expand its 190,000 b/d refinery at Kochi over the next five years. Indian media had previously reported that BPCL plans to expand its Kochi refinery's capacity by 63% to 310,000 b/d.
The Kochi PCPIR is one of five such regions proposed in India. The Indian government has previously announced PCPIRs in the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. These state governments have doled out incentives like tax holidays to attract companies to set up plants.
