HPL closure paves way for other petro majors to tap east

Kolkata, Sept 6: The shutdown of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) has paved the way for other giants in the sector to tap polymer market in the eastern region held by the region's petro major.

“We are unable to tap the eastern market though HPL plant is dry. Our plant is likely to commence operations next year. We are creating awareness about products in this part of the country,” ONGC Petro Additions Ltd (OPaL) head polymer M Sanath Kumar said on Saturday.

As per industry estimates, HPL had a market share of 12% in the polymer industry of the country with strong presence in eastern region. The plant is closed since July.

Indian Oil senior manager Sumit Basu, speaking at the Polycon India 2014, said the company was expanding its capacity in petrochemicals at Paradeep to tap the growing demand.

Moulded plastic products maker, Nilkamal executive director Hiten Parekh had said that despite shutdown of HPL the raw materials were being sourced from Reliance and they were not facing any significant cost impact.

As per estimates, HPL had a market share of 12% in the polymer industry of the country with strong presence in the east. The plant is closed since July

Gail GM (petrochemical marketing) Shivaji Basu also said capacity of its plants are being expanded, including a greenfield petrochemicals project in the north-east.

These new capacity in the east is expected to take off pressure from HPL and will help downstream industries to depend less on the Haldiabased plant.

Indian Plastics Federation had complained of raw material issues after HPL shutdown for downstream industries of Bengal.

On Saturday, IPF officials requested the petrochemical majors which participated at the event to allocate more quantities for eastern region at least on spot price basis till the HPL plant reopened. PTI