PSL bags Rs 900 crore order from Sudan

PSL Ltd, the flagship company of the PSL Group, which has bagged a Rs 900 crore order from a Sudanese oil major, has set its eyes on the export market for growth.

The company expects that 70 per cent of its sales turnover by the end of this financial year will come from exports. Last year, exports constituted 40 per cent of the total sales turnover.

"With the new order from Sudan we expect to increase our exports to contribute more than 70 per cent to our sales turnover," Ashok Punj, managing director of PSL Ltd told Business Standard on Thursday. The Rs 900-crore order from the Sudanese oil and gas company, Petrodar, is for the Melut Basin Oil Development Project in Sudan.

The order is perceived to be one of the biggest single product supply order received by an Indian company in recent times. The order is for the supply of pipes to cover an area of 785 km with API 5L, X-70 grade, 32 inch of steel pipes coated with three layer Polypropylene system.

The order will be executed in five of the PSL mills located in Kandla, while the company will source HR coils for manufacturing the pipes from various Indian and international steel firms.

PSL, which has bid for big orders for pipelines in countries like Iran, Oman, Kuwait, Vietnam and Bangladesh, is also eyeing the Iraq market.

The $13 million water pipeline project in Oman and the Rs 13 crore gas pipeline project in Bangladesh are nearing completion.

While the company expect the total turnover for the previous year to be around Rs 850 crore, it expects the turnover to rise above Rs 1,200 crore for the current financial year.

PSL Ltd is engaged in various types of pipe manufacturing and coating at Daman, Kandla, Nani Chairi, Chennai and Vishakhapatnam.

With the addition of three new pipe mills, the company has doubled its capacity of the pipes division. At present PSL manufactures around 6,75,000 metric tonne per annum, with nine operating pipe mills.

In its coating business, the company undertakes coal tar enamel coating, internal epoxy and three layered polyethylene coating. These coated pipes are used for transportation of gas, oil, water and petroleum.

PSL also manufactures spirally submerged arc welded pipes (SSAW). PSL clientele include ONGC, GAIL, HPCL, BPCL and IOC among others.