IOCL Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said during the Energy Intelligence Forum 2020 said that Saudi Aramco and ADNOC remained committed in the planned multi-billion west coast refining and petrochemical project that also involved India’s state refiners HPCL and BPCL. Vaidya’s statement came amid speculations that both Middle Eastern oil producers’ interest in the project waned. Oil producers are cutting their spending and reviewing major projects as energy demand plunged due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, talks of Aramco acquiring a 20% stake in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals business were reported to have been delayed.
The proposed 60 million tons/year refining and petrochemical complex will be built in India’s western state of Maharashtra. When launched in 2018, the mega-complex was said to include a 1.2-million-bpd refinery which would be integrated with petrochemical production units with a total capacity of 18 million tons/year. A local media reported last year that the project’s estimated costs had increased from $44 billion to $60 billion. The project’s commissioning deadline was also extended from 2022 to 2025 due to hurdles related to land acquisition.
Aramco, ADNOC, and IOCL will each own a 25% stake in the complex. Meanwhile, HPCL and BPCL will share the remaining 25% equally. The project is expected to benefit from India’s growing fuel demand which is expected to double to 10 million bpd by 2050. The country’s existing refining capacity of 250 million tons/year is estimated to be insufficient to keep up with the consumption growth.
