India is looking at cutting capacity at its biggest oil refinery to match lower fuel demand projections and contain costs which jumped to $60 billion due to meeting stringent environment norms and relocation of the plant, top officials said. State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) together with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) plan to set up a 60 million tonnes refinery-cum-petrochemical complex on Maharashtra coast.

The board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has offered to help ONGC Petro Additions Ltd (OPAL) raise debt resources of `2,680 crore.

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said the proposed merger of its subsidiaries, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), would happen next year. The largest hydrocarbon producer in India has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 32,921 crore during 2019-20, compared to Rs 29,449 crore during the previous financial year.

Indian Oil Corp plans to invest Rs 2 trillion ($27.98 billion) in five-seven years to meet energy needs of diverse user groups, Chairman Sanjiv Singh told at shareholders meeting.

The Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) will invest over Rs 78,000 crore for setting up a hydrocarbon processing complex in Baleswar district.

The HPL, one of the largest petrochemical majors in the country located at Haldia in East Medinipur district of West Bengal, has proposed to set up a light crude oil refinery, an aromatic complex and an ethylene cracker complex near the proposed Subarnarekha Port in Baleswar district. This would ensure availability of a wide range of feedstock for development of downstream petrochemical units.

GAIL (India) Limited’s Director (Projects) Ashutosh Karnatak has been appointed as the interim Chairman and Managing Director of the company. He has been serving as the Director (Projects) since March 2014.

GAIL India reported a net profit of Rs. 1,501.95 crore for the April-June period. That meant an increase of 4.19 per cent compared to the corresponding period a year ago. In a regulatory filing during market hours, GAIL said its revenue from operations came in at Rs. 18,481.56 crore, up 5.17 per cent compared to the year-ago period.

GAIL India Ltd will invest over Rs 45,000 crore over the next five years to expand the National Gas Grid and city gas distribution network, its chairman Ashutosh Karnatak said on August 20.

The PVC pipes maker’s consolidated net profit fell 43.8% to PET

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Issue: CPMA/020/2019

August 2019

Monthly Newsletter from

1 | August 2019

NN Crude oil futures were higher during mid-morning trade in Asia amid bullish data on last week’s US crude inventory, while ongoing

geopolitical tensions in the Middle East also provided price support.

NN PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company has selected Honeywell UOP to build the world’s largest single-train paraxylene

unit at its new integrated petrochemical complex in Jieyang, Guangdong province, Honeywell said.

NN The Asian petrochemical markets this week will continue to be pressured by the US president’s announcement to impose 10% tariff

on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, effective September 1.

Member Companies in the NewsCPMA

Focus on SUP continued as Prime Minister clarion call on

Independence Day urging citizens to eliminate the use of

single-use plastics (SUP) from October 2, has refocused the

spotlight on corporate India’s preparedness in making his

vision a reality. However, in a first, the CPCB has mooted

a definition for single-use plastic: “Disposable plastics used

for packaging only once before being disposed or recycled

and which are non-biodegradable and remain in dumpsites,

landfills or littered on streets and cause serious environmental

or health hazards to our flora and fauna.” In what could be a

relief to beverage firms, only bottles of less than 200 ml will

be barred from use, according to the proposal.

Indian economy continued to face headwinds in terms of

weak core sector output, slump in manufacturing activity and

services sector. Slowdown is being witnessed across sectors

- Automobile sales in India witnessed the worst-ever fall in 21

years. India’s core sector output remained weak in July, with

growth slowing to 2.1% from a year earlier, as production of

coal, crude oil, natural gas and refinery products declined.

Manufacturing activity in India slumped to a 15-month low

in August as sales slowed, forcing factories to cut back on

production. India’s services sector activity softened in August

as job creation and output expansion moderated. The twin

sets of data indicated the lack of any indications of recovery,

both in demand or investment, in the economy in the second

quarter from the six-year low it touched in the June quarter.

In the core sector, cement (7.9%) and steel (6.6%) posted good

growth. Post the surprisingly weak GDP growth momentum in

Q1 FY20, the moderately healthy growth of cement and steel

output in July 2019 offers some encouragement.

On a positive note, FDI equity inflows rose 28% in the first

quarter of 2019-20 to $16.3 billion from $12.7 billion in the

year-ago period.

In past two weeks, the government has announced a number

of measures including consolidation of public sector banks

and capital infusion in them besides a relaxation in foreign

investment norms and steps to ease credit flow to reverse

the slowdown.

On RCEP front - Members of the Regional Comprehensive

Economic Partnership (RCEP) have asked India to decide

if it wants to remain a part of the proposed trade grouping,

as pressure mounts to conclude the deal this year. Talks are

on for instantly ending tariff on 28% of traded goods, 35%

in phases. India is likely to give Asean the steepest cut and

China the least.

Commentary for the month

continued on page 2

Economy & Industry Snippets

Upcoming Events

2 | August 2019

PETCHEM BUZZ

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CPMA MembersApcotex Industries Limited N BPCL N Chemplast Cuddalore Vinyls Ltd. N DCM Shriram Ltd. N DCW Ltd. N Engineers India Ltd. N Finolex Industries Ltd. N GAIL

(India) Ltd. N Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. N Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. N Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. N HPCL – Mittal Energy Ltd. N Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. N Indian Synthetic Rubber Private Limited N INEOS Styrolution India Ltd. N LG Polymers (India) Pvt. Ltd. N MCPI Pvt. Ltd. N Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. N ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Ltd. N ONGC Petro Additions Ltd. N Reliance Industries Ltd. N

Supreme Petrochem Ltd. N Tamilnadu Petroproducts Ltd.

Associate Members: Braskem SA N HPL Additives Ltd. N ICIS N Indorama Industries Ltd. N Jindal Poly Films Ltd. N SABIC India Pvt Ltd.

CHEMICALS AND PETROCHEMICALS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION708, 7th floor, Kailash Building, 26 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi – 110 001. N Telephone: 011-43612198 N Email: cpmai@airtelmail.in

6-9 October 2019 | BERLIN

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Source: MosPI, Platts. May IIP revised to 4.6% from 3.8%

Trade Statistics- Key Products

Sr.

No.Product Category Product

2018-19 2019-20 (Apr-Jul) Average monthly Imports

Imports

(KT)

Exports

(KT)

Imports

(KT)

Exports

(KT)

2018-19

(KT)

2019-20

(Apr-Jul)

(KT)

%

Change

1 Polymer PVC 2047 20 734 7 171 183 7.6%

2 Polymer LLDPE+HDPE 1179 966 379 315 98 95 -3.5%

3 Polymer PP 855 718 345 156 71 86 20.9%

4 Polymer PET 335 1082 165 336 28 41 48.1%

5 Polymer LDPE 341 164 140 45 28 35 23.0%

6 Polymer ABS 119 0.4 36 0.1 10 9 -9.1%

7 Polymer PS 54 63 22 18 4 6 24.2%

8 Polymer SAN 9.2 0.4 3.3 0.3 0.8 1 8.1%

9 Polymer EPS 1.2 3.1 0.6 0.9 0.1 0 34.7%

10 Elastomers PBR 105 13 36 6 9 9 3.0%

11 Elastomers SBR 126 29 32 11 11 8 -23.7%

12 Elastomers Butyl Rubber 70 0 21 0 6 5 -12.0%

13 Intermed Fibre PTA 570 162 370 17 47 93 94.9%

14 Intermed Fibre MEG 635 293 313 82 53 78 47.9%

15 Intermed Polymer SM 818 7 288 2 68 72 5.8%

16 Intermed Polymer EDC 582 19 232 20 48 58 19.8%

17 Intermed Polymer VCM 458 0 152 0 38 38 -0.3%

Source: DGFT

Key Economic Indicators UoM Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19 Jul-19 Aug-19

Forex Reserves US $ Bn 407.0 418.5 419.9 427.7 429.6 429.1

Exchange rates 1 US$ 69.7 69.4 69.8 68.9 68.8 71.7

1 Euro 78.7 78.0 78.1 78.4 76.6 78.8

100 Jap Yen 62.7 62.2 63.4 63.9 63.4 67.5

1 Pound Sterling 91.8 90.4 89.9 87.6 84.1 87.3

IIP%age over Prev

month end0.4% 3.4% 4.6% 2.0% N.A. N.A.

Dubai Crude Oil US$/Barrel 66.9 70.9 69.0 61.8 63.3 59.1

Naphtha C&F SEA US$/MT 540 569 544 465 500 455

C2 C&F SEA UD$/MT 984 918 888 716 721 820

C3 C&F SEA US$/MT 828 816 801 814 854 856

Rs 73.17 crore on 14% rise in net sales to Rs 943.81 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.Shares of Finolex Industries fell 1.43% to Rs 525.85. The result was announced on Saturday, 10 August 2019.

CPMA: Member Companies...continued from page 1

CPMA submitted detailed justification

to keep Key Petrochemical Products

under exclusive list of RCEP

Further submissions made as to how

Benzene and Toluene to be treated

under RCEP

First Meeting of Chemicals &

Petrochemicals Advisory Forum

took place during the month

where CPMA mainly focused on

the following:

NN Urgently address Tariff issues

NN Taskforce to address the need for

India to produce chemical products

which India is not producing w.r.t to

Fuel demand disruption because of

Electric Vehicles

NN Bring back the Income tax rebate for

R&D (being reduced to 100%)

NN RCEP is a real threat and need to

address it immediately and safeguard

the domestic industry and upcoming

investments in the Country

CPMA made a case for submissions

on Key Pet-Chem Product stating

arguments for increase in Import Duty

and arguments against reduction in

duty under RCEP.

Raised the issues on logistics constraints

being faced by the members at Haldia

dock in a meeting at DCPC.

MOS ( C& F ) chaired the meeting with

particular focus on RCEP where CPMA

highlighted issues being faced by the

industry and cautious approach needed

before finalization of RCEP.

Members attended the meeting

convened by Secy DCPC on perspective

plan for Petrochemical industry.

Attended the meeting at Ministry of

Jal Shakti on action plan needed to

implement the Campaign on plastic

clean up, the call given by Hon’ble PM

beginning 11th Sep 2019.

Government Communications and Interactions

53rd Annual Meeting