Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether capacity will grow at a CAGR of 16.8% in India over next four years

India’s Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) plant capacity is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8% from 0.211 million tons per annum (mtpa) in 2017 to 0.460 mtpa in 2022, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The company’s report: ‘Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) Industry Outlook in India to 2022 - Market Size, Company Share, Price Trends, Capacity Forecasts of All Active and Planned Plants’ reveals that two upcoming projects, Haldia Petrochemicals Haldia Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) Plant and Nayara Energy Vadinar Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) Plant with a capacity of 0.099 mtpa and 0.150 mtpa, respectively are expected to commence their production by 2022.

The largest MTBE plants in India in 2017 were ‘Reliance Industries Hazira MTBE Plant’, ‘Indian Oil Corporation Vadodara MTBE Plant’ and ‘Bharat Petroleum Corporation Mahul MTBE Plant’.

Dayanand Kharade, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, explains: “Increasing gasoline demand in India is contributing to MTBE capacity additions. The country is expected to double its capacity by 2022.”

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd together accounted for 100% of the MTBE capacity in India in 2017.

The main sector that consumes MTBE in India is Gasoline Blending. In 2017, this sector accounted for almost 99% of the MTBE demand in the country. During the forecast period, increase in use of gasoline is expected to drive the MTBE market.

The average price of MTBE in India is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.9% from $674/ton in 2017 to $858/ton in 2022.

During 2008 to 2017, India has been a net exporter of MTBE. According to GlobalData outlook, it is expected to continue on similar trend with exports being higher than imports until 2022.

Imports as percentage of demand in the year 2008 was 31.1%. According to GlobalData forecasts, imports as percentage of demand is expected to increase from 6.3% in 2017 to 8.5% in 2022.