Indian petchem major courts Aramco

Talks are planned between ONGC Petro Additions (OPaL) and Saudi Aramco on a stake in the Dahej petrochemicals plant, industry sources said late on Wednesday.

OPaL is reportedly eying the sale of 50% in its ethylene propylene plant, a shareholding with an untied equity of 58.6%, which has attracted a total of about USD 10 billion of investments to date.

In 2016, the company tried in vain to bring on board Kuwait Petroleum Corporation unit Petrochemicals Industries Company, despite a January 2014 preliminary co-operation agreement between the Kuwaitis and OPaL shareholder ONGC.

Sources quoted by Bloomberg said that a Saudi delegation has already visited the site, which has a capacity to produce 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene and close to 400,000 tonnes per year of propylene. Production commenced last month.

OPaL is hoping to gain access to Saudi Aramco’s export channels, people familiar with the proposed talks also said.

ONGC intends to maintain a 26% shareholding in OPaL. GAIL India holds a 15.5% stake.