Pradhan welcomes Taiwanese investment in Paradip

New Delhi: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday welcomed the Taiwanese investment proposal to the tune of over US 6 billion dollar in petrochemical projects in Odisha’s seaport town, Paradip.

Addressing the media after meeting the Taiwanese delegation in Delhi, Pradhan said, “Lee Shun Chin, President of CPC Corp, and Taiwan Government officials have a proposal of six billion investments in India. Looking at Make in India mission, I welcome Taiwanese investment in Indian petrochemical industry.”

The Union Minister tweeted after meeting the delegation, “Met with a delegation led by President of Taiwan’s state-owned petrochemical company, CPC Corporation. They propose to invest $ 6.6 billion in petrochemical projects in Paradip using feedstock from IOC.”

Highlighting India’s ambition to export petrochemical products to neighbouring countries, Pradhan said, “Taiwan is known for its capability in petrochemical products. India needs more petrochemical products for its own domestic market, and India has the ambition to export petrochemical products to its neighbouring companies.”

One of the Indian delegates present during the meeting said, “We discussed the possible opportunities of investment by the (state-owned petrochemical company) CPC Taiwan in the petro chemical field integrated with the existing refinery of Indian Oil (Corporation). They have short-listed Paradip refinery as one of the sources to provide necessary field stock, and we are further exploring the possibility of setting up a petrochemical complex integrated with the refineries somewhere in the eastern coast.”

He further said, “The group led by CPC Corp, Taiwan would be visiting Paradip and subsequently, we will discuss the possibility of working together.”

Led by Shun-Chin Lee, President of CPC Corporation, Taiwan, the delegation had detailed discussions with Pradhan and senior officials of the concerned Ministry and the oil industry on the proposed investment and identified the East Coast of India, and Odisha in particular, for the location of the cracker and downstream units.

In continuation of today’s meeting, the delegation will be going to Odisha for a site visit to Paradip Refinery and Paradip Port and for discussions with IndianOil and State Government officials.

The proposed cracker, based on different streams of feedstock, will have several downstream units for production of a diverse spectrum of petrochemical intermediates and end-products.

The IOC, the country’s top refiner, reportedly operates a 300,000 barrels per day refinery at Paradip. (ANI)