インドの石油化学の歴史　IPCL　Homepageより　http://www.ipcl.co.in/ipcl/about/history.htm#hd

1961 to 1980

India was a late entrant to the field of petrochemicals. In case of most products, there was a lag of about 20 to 25 years between introduction of products in the international markets and that in India.

In India, the petrochemical demand in the initial phase was met through imports. Synthetic detergents and fibers were perceived as luxury goods and attracted high levels of customs tariff. The production of synthetic detergent was banned till the late 50's as it entailed a threat to oil based soaps. Polyester fiber consumption was hampered by the large price differential vis-à-vis cotton. This scenario prevailed till the beginning of the 60's.

The chemical industry of the 50's in India was based entirely on ethanol. ICI manufactured low density polyethylene at Rishra in West Bengal using ethylene produced from ethanol. Synthetics and Chemicals Ltd. produced Styrene Butadiene Rubber using ethanol at Barelly in Uttar Pradesh. Polychem Ltd. manufactured polystyrene form ethylene based on ethanol at Vishkhapattanam in Andhra Pradesh. Chemicals and Plastics Ltd. manufactured Polyvinyl Chloride at Metturdam in Tamil Nadu which too was based on ethanol.

Domestic production of petrochemicals in India first began with the commissioning of Union Carbide's naphtha cracker, ldPE and 2-Ethylhexanol plants at Chembur near Mumbai in 1961. Union Carbide's cracker received naphtha from the then ESSO refinery (now Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.). ICI was instrumental in producing polyester fiber for the first time in India by setting up a plant at Mumbai at the same time.

The development of Petrochemical Industry in India was reviewed for the first time by a special committee appointed by Government on October 10, 1960 under the Chairmanship of Dr. GP Kane. This Committee had for its objective the preparation of a plan for the development of petrochemical industries during the Third and Fourth Five Year Plans. It submitted its report on December 26, 1961.

The committee restricted itself to identifying various products to be manufactured out of petroleum sources and indicated targets of production by 1965-66 and 1970-71. The committee recommended that steps be taken for setting up four steam-cracking units in the Western, Eastern and Southern zones of the country to meet the requirements of ethylene, propylene, butylenes, butadiene, benzene etc. It pointed out that for economic considerations it is essential to establish the steam-cracking units near refineries. It felt that the first steam-cracking unit should be established close to the refineries in Bombay; the second near the Barauni refinery; the third near the Gujarat refinery and the fourth near a refinery proposed to be set up in South India.

The Kane Committee reported that Standard Oil and Burma Shell had submitted proposals for the manufacture of naphtha and naphtha based petrochemicals. Bechtel Corporation had submitted a proposal to set up a large number of standardized naphtha based fertilizer plants. The committee could perceive that the international oil companies saw the opportunity for the production and marketing of naphtha based chemicals in India due to the glut of gasoline (motor spirit) in the international market and availability of technologies for production of petrochemicals based on naphtha. The Burma Shell proposal led to construction of a cracker based on supply of feed stocks from the then Burma Shell Refinery ( Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. ) at Mumbai and came up as a joint venture. Shell, Hoechst and Mafatlal entered the market by setting up facilities to manufacture a wide range of chemicals, solvents, surfactant intermediates and plastics at Thane. The Shell-Mafatlal joint venture is National Organic Chemical Industries Limited. (NOCIL) and the Mafatlal-Hoechst joint venture was Polyolefin Industries Limited (PIL), which later merged with NOCIL. These units came on stream in 1967.

While the Kane Committee did emphasise the importance of setting up petrochemicals industry in India, a detailed technical or financial assessment of the petrochemical production in India was not within its scope of work. The industry being highly capital intensive with large amount of foreign exchange requirement, deserved a detailed study before taking the plunge. The Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), as an extension of an arm of Government of India in the petroleum sector, requested Institute Francais Du Petrols (IFP) to prepare a detailed report indicating time phasing, the locations and order of investments for the development of the petrochemicals industry in India. The IFP Committee was headed by Dr. V.E. Henny. Subsequently two other groups studied the subject of development of petrochemical industry. These were the Planning Subgroup for Petrochemicals, appointed by the Ministry of Industries and Supply in October, 1963 and the Working Group, appointed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals in November, 1964. The report submitted by the latter group in January , 1965 formed the basis of the Fourth Plan program for petrochemicals.

The planning group for petrochemical industries, in consultation with the various Ministries of Government of India and the then Oil and Natural Gas Commission (today called the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited) examined the targets of production consistent with the projections of market demand, availability of naphtha and other raw materials, etc. A petrochemicals Division was also created as a part of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission to take follow-up action.

The Oil and Natural Gas Commission invited proposals from international companies for setting up petrochemicals complex in India in 1963. The enquiries were sent to major manufacturers in the United States, Britain, Italy and Japan. Two preliminary proposals were received by the end of 1964. Proposals came from consortium led by Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals. Discussion with these groups went on till 1966 but negotiations broke down on issues of management control, preferential treatment and guaranteed price. The second proposal from Philips petroleum and Imperials Chemicals Industries was also discussed in 1965. These companies withdrew their proposals on the ground of inadequate resource mobilization. Negotiations with Bechtel Corporation and consortium of oil companies for the fertilizers projects also broke down in 1965.

Against all these developments and having built a strong conviction in favor of developing Indian capability in this field, the government finally took a decision to manufacture basic building blocks and intermediates like Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, Benzene, Xylenes and Dimethyl Terephthalate in the public sector, with a view to further processing the building blcks to prduce industrial products in the private sector. Industrial products can then be converted to end products by the manufacturers of consumer products. Accordingly, the government concentrated on developing two mother plants for the manufacture of building blocks. Planning and negotiations for the two up stream projects including the selection of technologies were, in essence, completed in the ministry of petroleum. The first technology agreement was signed between President of India and Fried Krupp Gmbh., Chemiean Lagenbao, Federal Republic of Germany on May 19, 1968 for the manufacture of xylenes and DMT at Vadodara.

Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL), a Company under the Companies Act with Registered Office at Jawaharnagar (near Vadodara) in Gujarat was registered on March, 22, 1969. It was assigned the responsibility of setting up two up stream mother units and two downstream units near an established public sector refinery, Gujarat Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation on the outskirts of Vadodara in Gujarat. The first board meeting of the board of directors of the company was held on March 26, 1969 at New Delhi.

The board meeting approved the first logo, which consisted of a tetrahadron in a circle. Implementation of the up stream projects began in full swing by the early seventies. Dr. Triguna Sen, the then Union Minister for Petroleum & Chemicals and Mines & Metals laid the foundation stone of INR 180 Million Gujarat Aromatics Project on January 24, 1970.

The private sector which was initially allocated six down stream units during that period were reluctant to invest in this industry. The industry was highly capital intensive, involved handling and processing of hazardous material, involved development of nascent markets and managing new technologies with a skill base that was inadequate. Hence they were doubtful about the prospects in the industry and were unwilling to invest. On the other hand, the government realized the importance of integrated nature of the entire project.

Finally, in contrast to the original concept of involving the private sector, the Government allocated these six down stream projects also to IPCL, in the beginning 1971. The logo of IPCL was inspired by this decision of the government, "Every thing under one roof". IPCL took up the challenge of setting up the entire integrated complex at Vadodara.

The Gujarat Aromatics Project, consisting of xylenes plant and DMT plant was set up at an investment of INR 271.3 Million, with funds provided by the Government. Dimethyl Terephthalate was commissioned by March 20, 1973. The first lot of DMT was flaked at 12 PM of March 29, 1973, which incidentally, was also the birthday of the production manager Mr. R Sethuraman and the Xylenes plant was fully commissioned by November 12, 1973. Marketing of these forerunners of the petrochemicals in India was taken up in tandem. The State Trading Corporation of India exported one consignment of Ortho Xylene manufactured by IPCL through Kandla port on December 14, 1973.

The IPCL team negotiated and signed the first technology transfer agreement with Lummus Company of UK, for Naphtha Cracker on May 7, 1970.

The foundation stone for the Gujarat Olefins Project ( Naphtha Cracker) was laid by Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India on January 29, 1972.

The plant was commissioned on March 28, 1978. By March 15, 1979, IPCL achieved the unprecedented feat of commissioning 11 plants in quick succession, at a capital investment of INR 3.04 billion.

Thus, a fully integrated petrochemical complex under a single ownership, being the first of its kind in the Indian peninsula, came into existence. Majority of detailed engineering and construction jobs for the complex at Vadodara were carried out by Engineers India Limited (EIL). The complex was dedicated to the nation by Mr. Morarji R. Desai, the then Prime Minister of India on March, 30, 1979.

Before the formal inauguration of the petrochemical complex, a two-day symposium on the subject `Frontiers of Organic Chemical Technology' was also organized by IPCL's Research Center on March 28 and 29, 1979. About 500 delegates representing various industries, scientific and technological fields attended the symposium that was inaugurated by Dr. Atma Ram, the then Chairman, National Committee on Science and Technology. In his address, Mr. Morarji Desai hailed the setting up of the petrochemicals complex comprising 14 units which would produce goods worth INR. 3 billion a year.

The end products from this venture, he added, would help substitute and conserve natural resources in various fields. Mr. Morarji Desai complimented the scientists, engineers and technologists in both public and private sector units who were instrumental in setting up the petrochemical complex.

The inauguration of these downstream plants marked the successful culmination of the cooperation between Indian design, engineering and construction companies, Indian and foreign equipment manufacturers, various government and private research organizations and the international process licensers. This also meant a beginning of an era for chemicals, thermoplastic elastomers, synthetic fibers, organic intermediates for drugs, insecticides, pharmaceuticals and dyestuffs.

This complex produced a variety of plastics, fiber & fiber intermediates, surfactant intermediates, chemicals and solvents. When IPCL entered the petrochemicals market in India, markets were almost nonexistent for many products such as xylenes, dimethyl terphthalate, linear alkyl benzene - a detergent intermediate. The production capacities of commodity plastics were several times higher than the total demand in the country. Many products were introduced in the market for the first time and there was inadequate awareness on applications which led to consumer resistance to accept new products.

In such an undeveloped market scenario, IPCL adopted a strategy of growth through mutual development and took up the task of developing the markets by educating prospective processors on various applications, sources of finances, machinery, markets for the end products, etc., and helped them with project proposals and necessary assistance in setting up processing units.

Modern and well equipped Application Development Centers (ADC) were set up ahead of commencement of production, to conceive, develop and test the new products in the key product areas, viz. polymers, chemical and synthetic fibers. These centers interacted with institutions, end users, processors and machinery manufacturers to develop applications and new products. The ADCs' aim at substitution of conventional materials by petrochemicals. Some of the key areas on which these centers focus their attention are, conservation of scarce natural resources by developing applications of superior synthetic materials as alternates to them and exploring the potential of petrochemical materials vis-a-vis other materials to provide cost and property advantages. Training programs and workshops were also organized to share the knowledge and increase awareness.

Application Development Centers (ADC) were set up before the commencement of production, to conceive, develop and test the new products in the key product areas, viz. polymers, chemical and synthetic fibers. These centers interacted with institutions, end users, processors and machinery manufacturers to develop applications and new products. The ADC’s aim at substitution of conventional materials by petrochemicals. Some of the key areas on which these centers focus their attention are, conservation of scarce natural resources by developing applications of superior synthetic materials as alternates to them and exploring the potential of petrochemical materials vis-a-vis other materials to provide cost and property advantages.

The company opened marketing offices at Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore and Vadodara by fourth quarter of 1978. Since no one was ready to take risk of dealing with these products, the company opted for a system of consignment stockists. The stockists were required to stock product on behalf of IPCL and receive commission on sales. The commodity plastics were sold by IPCL at uniform price across the country to support the concept of balanced regional growth. Today, out of the 15,000 plastic and detergent processors in the country almost 12,000 owe their existence to IPCL, because the marketing teams went out with their "magic lanterns," guiding, developing and showing the path to prosperity to the willing but unaware entrepreneurs. The best compliment to IPCL marketing efforts came from Mr. Karsanbhai K. Patel, Chairman, Nirma Chemical Works, who said "IPCL is marketing investment opportunities, it is not selling products", at a function organized by Gujarat Detergent Manufacturers Association in Ahmedabad in 1981. With sustained market development efforts, the volumes were absorbed within two years after commencement of production. The petrochemical revolution was thus set in motion by IPCL in India

One major thrust area to develop applications of plastics in areas of national priority was applications of plastics in agriculture, known as plasticulture.The company promoted the use of plastics in canal and pond lining to control water seepage and in green houses and mulching, drip-irrigation and a host of other applications.

IPCL also works closely with the existing organizations in agricultural sector, to establish an effective distribution channel, to ensure timely availability of material to end users. IPCL is involved with the National Committee on use of Plastics in Agriculture (NCPA) under Ministry of Agriculture.

Apart from the aromatics and the mother cracker, downstream plants spread include polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic fiber, Linear Alkyl Benzene etc. The Vadodara complex has now grown to house 21 plants over nearly 500 hectares, which includes Acrylic Esters, Polyvinyl chloride, Petroleum Resins, etc. The gross block involved is INR 11.11 Billion. Plans for further addition are on hand.

The success of IPCL and the returns that it was able to generate, attracted the attention of the private sector. In the mid-eighties there was a spurt in the applications for licenses to set up petrochemical units. Gradually, private sector companies developed a presence in this industry and thanks to the nurturing of the industry for more than two decades by IPCL, the private sector developed confidence to own and operate large capacities in the late nineties.

Multiple locations, products and technologies
IPCL has lived up to the expectation of its promoter by contributing to the national economy through the growth of the industry entrusted to it. Formulation and implementation of the next project were invariably taken on hand while one project was nearing completion. Since its inception till date, the company has grown from a single location to multi-location with several products added to its business portfolio.

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