State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with UK's BP plc for setting up a 1 million tonnes acetic acid plant in Gujarat. The proposed acetic acid plant for gasification facilities would utilise petroleum coke feedstock from IOC while the plant would also employ BP's latest Cativa XL technology.
The signed MOU is for exploring the potential for establishing a 50-50 joint venture to invest in the plant. A joint feasibility study is currently underway to confirm the exact configuration of the project, which would have a targeted start-up date in 2015.
Recently, IOC, the country’s biggest refiner was planning to expand capacity by 87% to 2.46 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020-21. At present, IOC and its subsidiary - Chennai Petroleum together control half of India’s 20 refineries with a capacity of 1.314 million bpd.
