The Chatterjee Group’s long cherished dream of building a refinery-to-petrochemical complex is finally taking wings.

After acquiring the crucial assets of Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd in Tamil Nadu from a bankruptcy court for Rs 600 crore, TCG has appointed B. Anand as the chief executive officer to take the project forward.

Anand, who will take charge from September, was the CEO of Nayara Energy, erstwhile Essar Oil. TCG will soon launch the petrochemical project at Cuddalore, 175 kilometres south of Chennai, under the leadership of Anand, a statement from TCG said.

He will also head the business of developing and implementing large scale polymer projects with sustainability focus, including oil-to-polymer complexes, across India and globally, the statement added.

The development comes a year after HPL acquired Lummus Technology, a leading technology provider to process industries, including petrochemical complexes, with Rhone Capital.

Cuddalore project

NOCL has brought in 2,158 acres of contiguous, unlitigated land under the fold of TCG with access to a port with deep draft and railway links.

The initial plan will be to build a petrochemical complex to replicate the success of HPL and MCPI (formerly Mitsubishi PTA) in Bengal. These plants will initially be based on imported raw material naphtha and paraxylene to make polymer, chemical and PTA for the local and export markets.

In the second phase, a crude oil refinery will be built focusing on producing naphtha and paraxylene, in contrast to the usual practice of producing fuels. TCG is said to be in talks with global majors for a strategic tie-up, which may call for $8-10 billion in phased manner.

Welcoming Anand’s appointment, Purnendu Chatterjee, founder and chairman of TCG Group, said, “His understanding of the petrochemical business and vision to bring growth and synergy within the sector with best-in-class process technologies, sustainability initiatives and managing global stakeholders is something that we are aligned with and wish to drive together.”

Later Anand added: “With our first petrochemical project underway soon, the promise to bring cleaner and greener solutions to the Indian sector is encouraging.’’