Italian firm Maire Tecnimont announced a consortium of its subsidiaries Tecnimont SpA and Tecnimont have been awarded USD 450 million engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) for setting up a Para-Xylene plant in Paradip, Odisha.

The scope of work entails EPCC activities up to performance guarantees test run. Once completed, the new PX plant will have a capacity of 8,00,000 tpa.

The mechanical completion of the project is expected to be completed in 33 months from the award date. The Para-Xylene produced will be used to feed the adjacent Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) unit.

Para-Xylene is an intermediate building block for petrochemical value chain, necessary for synthesis of several polymers, particularly Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) used in industrial applications in the packaging, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.