(File photo: Nayara Energy)

AHMEDABAD: Russian oil producer Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy , formerly Essar Oil , has firmed up plans to invest Rs 1.3 lakh crore ($19 billion) as part of its expansion plans at Vadinar near Jamnagar .

The company had unveiled its plans to invest $850 million for expansion in Gujarat at the Vibrant Gujarat summit held in January this year. However, as per the proposal submitted to Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) recently, Nayara Energy has planned a massive expansion drive. This includes setting up of a 10.75 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) capacity petrochemical complex and expansion of the refinery from 20MMTPA to 46MMTPA for a total investment of $19 billion, said sources in the state government.

A public consultation for the project will be held next month for environmental clearance. Affected locals and other concerned stakeholders will be required to send their response in writing to GPCB member secretary by evening of August 5. The pollution control body will post the responses on the website.

“This is perhaps for the first time that environmental clearance process is being carried out by way of public consultation. The environmental clearance for the Vadinar project was valid till last year. However the proposed expansion was not carried out in the given time-frame. The current promoters have decided to scale down the project from 60MMTPA to 46MMTPA. Hence we chose the public consultation route,” said a senior government official. The proposed expansion is likely to take place in the next five to 10 years, the official said.

In August 2017, a Rosneft-led consortium acquired Essar Oil for $12.9 billion that was later named as Nayara Energy. Nayara Energy has now revisited and revised the expansion plans.

The proposed expansion of refinery with petrochemicals complex will be within the existing refinery complex of Nayara Energy. No additional land shall be acquired, according to Nayara’s proposal to GPCB.

Nayara Energy currently operates a 20 million tonnes a year oil refinery at Vadinar. The expansion will also mark Nayara Energy’s foray into petrochemical business.

An e-mail query sent to a company’s representative remained unanswered till press time.

“Historically, demand of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) has grown at 1.5 times of GDP growth in India and it is expected to grow at minimum 10% per year in future. Current PP demand of 4.4MMTPA is expected to reach 10.4MMTPA with this 10% growth rate. This demand growth is likely to create need of 5.3MMTPA PP capacity addition in India by 2025,” according to Nayara’s proposal.

The petrochemical complex will include setting up an ethylene cracker and associated units, aromatics, polyester intermediates, polymer units, phenol chain and speciality chemicals.

