NATIONAL
BASF, Adani Group announce ₹16,000 cr petrochem project
BASF SE, the world’s largest chemical producer, will set up a petrochemical production hub at a cost of ₹16,000 crore in Gujarat in a joint venture (JV) with the Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, the two companies said after signing a memorandum of understanding on Thursday.
The German company will hold the majority in the joint venture, which will invest in the “acrylics value chain”, they said. The designated site would be at Mundra port in Gujarat and a feasibility study will be completed by the end of 2019.
The investment will go into the development, construction and operation of production plants including propane dehydrogenation (PDH), oxo C4 complex (butanols and 2-ethylhexanol), glacial acrylic acid (GAA), butyl acrylate (BA) and potentially other downstream products. The products are predominantly for the Indian market to serve a wide range of local industries, including construction, automotive and coatings, whose growing demand is currently supplied via imports.
“India continues to be a very large importer of petrochemicals given the rapid expansion of the middle class, and this leads to a significant outflow of precious foreign exchange. Our partnership with BASF is a big step forward in enabling our country’s ‘Make in India’ programme, as this partnership will allow us to produce in Mundra several of the chemicals along the C3 chemical value chain that we are currently importing. Mundra’s infrastructure is ideally suited to enable chemicals production, and our ability to deliver renewable power makes this a unique partnership on several fronts,” Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, said in a statement.
In line with BASF’s carbon neutral growth strategy, the chemical site in Mundra would be the company’s first CO2-neutral production site. The companies have developed an overall plan including new technologies and the supply of the site with 100% renewable energy.
Therefore, in addition to the investment outlined in this MoU, BASF plans to co-invest as a minority partner in a wind and solar park, according to the media statement.
The announcement comes on the eve of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019 where top leaders from Adani group and BASF are going to attend.
