HPL's chief executive conveyed that The Chatterjee Group (TCG) was engaged in discussions with both local and global companies regarding a partnership with its majority-owned petrochemical firm, Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL), for the development of a project exceeding $10 billion in southern India. According to Haldia CEO Navanit Narayan, the private equity firm intended to construct an oil-to-chemical project in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, capable of producing 3.5 million metric tons per year (tpy) of ethylene and propylene by 2028 to 2029. He mentioned that the project's financial closure was anticipated by the conclusion of 2024.
Narayan elaborated that there was an opportunity to enhance the value of their chemical production, given the substantial market demand, particularly as most of the chemicals they were considering were imported into India. He expressed that this would result in improved margins.
HPL presently operates a petrochemical plant producing 1 million tpy in eastern India and is underway with the construction of the largest integrated phenol project in the country at Haldia. The company aimed to increase profits by domestically manufacturing specialty chemicals.
In 2021, Haldia acquired an inactive oil refinery project in Cuddalore from Nagarjuna Oil, which had been closed following damage from a cyclone in 2011. Originally designed to process 120,000 barrels per day of oil, the planned project was taken over. Indian firms were expanding their petrochemical production capacity in response to the country's growing economy, which escalated the demand for various goods, including plastics, paints, and chemicals like monoethylene glycol, essential for textile fiber and polyester resin production. Narayan observed that while the western part of India was saturated with petrochemical projects, the southern region lacked a significant petrochemical project to fulfill regional demand.
He emphasized that the south was an economically developed area of the country, presenting an advantageous location for such an endeavor. India's petrochemical consumption stood at approximately one-third of the global average, with a heavy reliance on imports to meet its specialty chemicals requirements.
