The government is considering putting up an fertiliser plant in the gas-rich Gulf region to bridge the demand-supply gap, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
"Various proposals are under consideration in the Middle East for exploring the possibility of putting up Ammonia-Urea fertliser plant in countries like Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait", Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena said in a written reply.
A fertiliser-deficit nation, India generally imports one- third of its total fertiliser requirement for a year. It will have to import more than 11.6 million tonnes of fertiliser to meet its domestic demand for the current kharif season, ending September, which includes 30 lakh tonnes of urea. Domestic urea production caters only 70 per cent of the total requirement.
India had produced 21.1 million tonnes urea, 4.2 million tonnes DAP and 8 lakh tonnes complex fertilisers in 2009-10.
"The government is continuously following-up the issue of availability of gas with the competent authorities in the respective nations", Jena said.
The Minister, however, added that so far no country in the Gulf region has given confirmation about supply of gas at affordable price.
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Failed to attract the desired investment in the sector, the government had announced New Investment Policy, 2008.
Following that, investments worth Rs 24,000 crore were committed by six fertiliser firms, but could not be carried forward as the units were seeking firm gas allocation at a pre-determined price or insulation from additional liability due to price rise.