Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has acquired a nine per cent stake in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL), a Rs13,500 crore petrochemicals project being set up by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), reports quoting ONGC sources said.

ONGC Petro-additions is a special purpose vehicle created for executing the Rs13,500 crore petrochemicals complex at Dahej, in Gujarat.

GAIL, which already has a presence in the petrochemicals business, is reported to have sought 19 per cent equity in OPaL. Several foreign companies are also reported to be interested in acquiring a stake in the ONGC project.

With 50 per cent of the project already tied up and 25 per cent reserved for public issue, ONGC said OPaL has had to turn down a lot of overseas offers.

The public offer, which will be at a premium, is expected to come later after the project gets off the ground.

OPaL will use C2-C3 (ethane and propane) compounds extracted from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to make polymers. Commissioning of the project has been tied to the setting up of a cracker unit.

The OPaL stake is  held jointly by ONGC and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation. ONGC hold around 26 per cent in the company while GSPC holds 5 per cent as a joint venture partner in OPaL.

OPaL will operate the Rs12,440-crore petro-chemical plant at Dahej with an annual capacity of 1.1 MMTPA ethylene capacity dual feed cracker, 340,000 tons of propylene, 135,000 tons of benzene and 95,000 tons of butadiene. These products are used as source materials in the plastics industry.

This plant will be the largest petro-chemical cracker unit in India and is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

According to plans, OPaL will be taken public with an initial public offering (IPO) by December 2011.

OPaL had, in February, signed a Rs6,800 crore contract for dual feed cracker unit for the petrochemical plant being set up at Dahej, Gujarat with consortium of Linde AG, Germany and Samsung Engg South Korea. This is the largest single lump sum turnkey contract so far for Linde and Samsung, either separately or jointly in India.