India's Haldia Petrochemicals has sufficient naphtha feedstock at its plant along with supplies already at sea and does not expect the US-Iran conflict to disrupt immediate production, its chief executive told Reuters on Monday.
"We are planning to maximise sourcing from the domestic market if the war continues," CEO Navanit Narayan said. Marine insurers have cancelled war risk coverage for vessels and oil shipping rates are set to surge further after the widening conflict left at least three tankers damaged, a seafarer killed and 150 ships stranded around the Strait of Hormuz.
Haldia Petrochemicals buys naphtha for its 700,000 ton-per-year ethylene cracker primarily from the Middle East and partly from local refiners.
It has an annual chemical processing capacity of 491,000 tons, and approximately one million tons per year of polymer processing capacity at its manufacturing facility in India's Haldia in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Haldia Petrochemicals, majority owned by US-based private equity firm the Chatterjee Group (TCG), also operates a Singapore-based petrochemicals trading arm that plans to handle up to two million tons of trade volumes this year.
(Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
