GAIL plans to invest Rs 2000 cr in Assam unit

GAIL India Ltd, the country's integrated gas company, intends to invest Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore in its gas cracker project at Assam.

Proshanto Banerjee, chairman and managing director, said, "The government has nominated GAIL to set up this grassroot gas cracker. We will invest Rs 1,500-2,000 crore. The state government of Assam and Numaligarh Refineries Ltd are also expected to participate in the project in a small way."

GAIL is expected to give a new lease of life to the long overdue Rs 2,500-crore gas cracker project, which was promised as part of the economic package under the Assam Accord.

The accord was signed between the Union government and the All Assam Students Union in August 1985. Earlier, the project was to be implemented by Reliance Assam Petrochemicals, a joint venture between the Assam government and Reliance.

Banerjee claimed that "the project will be gas-based having an installed capacity to produce 1.8 lakh tonne per annum of ethylene.

The project will also be supplemented by naphtha (as part of the feedstock)".

Besides the Assam project, GAIL is augmenting the capacity of its petrochemical plant in Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh. It is also evaluating Mitsubishi's low density polyethylene plant in Japan.

"The plant is in good condition. Only after an indepth technical due diligence we will decide on bringing the plant to Uttar Pradesh and add it to our existing unit in Auraiya," Banerjee added.

After debottlenecking, GAIL has increased ethylene capacity from 3,10,000 tonne per annum to 4,40,000 tpa and "once we receive technical approval, we will increase the capacity to 500,000 tpa".

GAIL is also in talks with the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation to set up a gas-based cracker based on the LNG feedstock from Petronet LNG's proposed project in Kochi.