IOCL said on Wednesday that the company’s board has sanctioned the initial approval to set up India’s first styrene monomer project at an estimated cost of `4,495 crore.
The project, with a capacity of 387 thousand metric tonne per annum (TMTPA) will be located in the company’s Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex.
Styrene is used to produce a number of end products including polystyrene, paints, coatings and acrylic. India’s styrene consumption is around 900 TMTPA, and as there is no domestic manufacturing capacity, the entire demand is met through imports from Singapore, West Asia and Southeast Asia. The project will be commissioned by FY27, IOCL said.
The project aims to utilise the ethylene produced in the Panipat refinery’s upcoming INDMAX unit. he INDMAX unit is being built at the refinery under the recently approved `32,946 crore expansion programme.