Petronet LNG Ltd, India's largest gas importer, plans to set up a petrochemical complex at Dahej in Gujarat as it looks to make a foray into high margin business to hedge gas trading risks, Oil Secretary Tarun Kapoor said.
Petronet, which owns and operates to terminals at Dahej and Kochi in Kerala for import of super-cooled gas in ships, is also looking at setting up a floating terminal at Gopalpur port in Odisha, Kapoor, who is also chairman of the company, said.
In the firm's largest annual report, Kapoor said Petronet "is embarking upon a major diversification drive to broad base its business activity and is exploring to have an ethane/ propane import facility at Dahej terminal."
Petronet "has also planned for setting up of a petrochemical complex based on imported propane at Dahej LNG Terminal", he said. "The foray into petrochemicals would be a forward integration of our strategy as the same planned to get synchronised with our upcoming third jetty project and available land bank at Dahej."
He, however, did not give details of the planned petrochemical complex including investment and size of the plant. Petrochemicals, made using crude and natural gas as feedstock, form raw material for plastics, packaging material, and personal care products.
In terms of volume, the petrochemical market in India stood at 42.50 million tonnes and is estimated to reach 49.62 million tonnes by 2025, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.14 per cent between FY 2021 and FY 2025.
Using ethane, plastics and detergents can be made; while propane can give plastic.
Petronet is 50 per cent owned by state-owned refiners Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd and oil and gas producer ONGC. The four companies sit on board of the company, which is headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Kapoor said Petronet is exploring the possible business opportunities from harnessing the cold energy from its regasification terminals at Dahej and Kochi.
