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UAE-headquartered Gulf Petrochem has announced its acquisition of Royal Dutch Shell's bitumen plant at Savli, near Vadodara in Gujarat, India.

The acquisition, through a direct purchase, is designed to complement the company's oil storage terminal at Pipavav and meet growing demand for bitumen specialty products in West and North India.

Gulf Petrochem says it will begin to manufacture 30,000 metric tonnes per annum of bitumen specialty products, which includes bitumen emulsions, micro-surfacing emulsions, crumb rubber modified bitumen, polymer modified bitumen and various other cold mix road construction products.

Gulf Petrochem has confirmed that it will also upgrade the plant to manufacture bitumen products that adhere to new specifications laid down by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).

Commenting on the acquisition, Manan Goel [pictured], Group Director at Gulf Petrochem, said: "The acquisition has helped increase our product portfolio with petroleum products that we can market and deliver through our storage, shipping, manufacturing and terminal businesses. It mirrors our growth strategy because we have enhanced our integration solution in India and consolidated our position as the only company in the region that is actively present in both conventional bitumen and specialty products."

Commissioned in 2009, the plant covers over 3.5 acres of land. As a fully computerized and automatic facility, Gulf Petrochem says it enables full control on the composition of raw materials to ensure all the batches of a particular grade of product are consistent.

According to Gulf Petrochem, the bitumen plant will meet the demand for different packages such 200 Kg MS drums, 200 Kg MS reconditioned drums, 200 Kg HDPE drums and bulk in tankers. The company also plans to provide poly bag packing for modified bitumen products and expand manufacturing capabilities to supply a variety of grades and specifications as per IS, ASTM, AASHTO and BS standards.

The company claims to currently supply almost 35 percent of all imported bitumen into India and to be the largest importer of bitumen in the country.

Gulf Petrochem said that it will be selling all grades of bitumen and bitumen specialty products via its trading desks in the Middle East, Europe, Singapore and India, and that it also plans to supply Shell’s existing customers - who are said to have registered an interest in continuing to receiving supplies.

The Savli plant will be manned, operated and managed by the existing Shell team, Gulf Petrochem added.

Image: Manan Goel, Group Director at Gulf Petrochem.