Indian Oil targets textiles in hunt for margins

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE : Indian Oil Corp will expand its petrochemicals capacity and integrate it with its textile business to help offset the impact of low refining margins, the chairman of India’s largest refiner said on Monday.

“We see petrochemical integration as the way forward…Petrochemicals gives us that ability to de-risk from low cracks (refining margins),” S.M. Vaidya said at the online Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC).

India’s per capita consumption of petrochemicals is one of the lowest in the world, but consumption is expected to rise with rising income levels.

“Over the long term, (the) focus will be on capacity augmentation, getting into the areas of niche petrochemicals with further forward integration into textiles,” Vaidya said, describing this as “key for sustaining our competitiveness margins and growth trajectory”.