NEW DELHI: India’s state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. is set to boost its naphtha exports next year with the completion of expansion works at its Kochi refinery to 15 million mt/year from 9.5 million mt/year, scheduled around the first quarter, industry sources said this week.
The expansion is expected to increase BPCL’s naphtha production by 10%-15% — at least 550,000 mt/year, or around 13,500 b/d — which would enable the refiner to restore monthly exports from Kochi on the Indian southwest coast, to two cargoes, one source familiar with the matter said.
But the increase in exports from Kochi would only last for around a year, as naphtha would be diverted as feedstock into BPCL’s new petrochemical project, the source said. The propylene derivatives petrochemical project in Kochi is expected to be completed around the end of next year, and is due for commissioning around the first-quarter of 2018, industry sources said.
