“Petronas aims to continue to be part of India’s exciting journey and support its sustainable growth ambitions and commitments through further collaborations with our existing partners as well as through new strategic-fit opportunities,” he said.
Wan Zulkiflee, currently on Petronas’ annual official visit to meet with India’s industry leaders and partners, said high on Petronas’ priority would be the expansion of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply in India to help meet the rising demands from the power, agriculture and transportation sectors.
According to the release, Petronas has the added advantage of providing tailor-made solutions across the LNG value chain such as flexibility, engineering expertise and experience in operations management.
Petronas also sees growth in demand for petrochemicals in India – especially with the growing affluence that will see the increased demand for consumer products. In 2016, India made up over 100,000 tonnes of Petronas’ petrochemicals sales volume.
To strengthen Petronas’ lubricants business in India, subsidiary Petronas Lubricants International (PLI), is investing US$150mil over the next five years. The investment includes the building of a US$50mil lubricant blending plant with a 110 million-litre capacity in Patalganga, to be completed by Q1 of 2018.
Wan Zulkiflee said this investment was also in line with the Indian government’s “Make in India” transformation initiative.
The plant is set to be the most modern facility in PLI’s global production network with unique capabilities to blend the most complex fluids. It is also equipped with a technical service facility that utilises the latest equipment in fluid analytics.
“We are aiming to triple our market share in India’s lubricant market by 2022. Globally, we are among the top 10 lubricants players by market share, and striving to eventually be among the top five in five years,” said Wan Zulkiflee.
PLI also has a reliable network of multiple OEM partnerships, notably with Tata Motors, Fiat, New Holland, Doosan, Case Construction, Maruti Suzuki India, Piaggio and Bharat Benz for branded and co-branded lubricants.
Wan Zulkiflee further noted that he was extremely encouraged by the growth and performance of Petronas’ LPG joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, which currently owns LPG bottling terminals in Haldia, West Bengal and in Ennore, Tamil Nadu.