Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer (BCPL) a joint venture of state-run Gail India, Oil India (OIL) and Numaligarh Refinery, will tie up finances for its Rs5,460 crore chemical plant in Assam by the next month.

Addressing shareholders of the company in Guwahati on Wednesday, BCPL chairman B C Tripathi said financial closure of the project would be achieved next month. Tripathi is also chairman and managing director of Gail India.

Gail has a 70 per cent stake in the Rs5,460.61 crore project being set up at Lepetka village in Dibrugarh district of Assam while OIL, NRL and Assam Industrial Development Corp hold 10 per cent each.

According to a Gail press release, BCPL will spend Rs896 crore on project activities during 2009-10.

The plant, which will use natural gas and naphtha as feedstock to manufacture polymers for making plastics and other products, is scheduled for commissioning in April 2012.

Tripathi said orders for critical equipment are being placed from end-August to January 2010 and the company has committed around Rs1,720 crore towards the project.

Gail will take up equity of 188 crore, Tripathi said.

The natural gas for the project would be supplied by OIL and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) while NRL will supply naphtha once the plant goes on stream.

The petrochemical complex comprises an ethylene cracker unit and downstream polymer plant.

"The complex has been configured with a capacity of 220,000 tonnes per annum of ethylene and 60,000 tonnes per annum of propylene with natural gas and naphtha as feedstock," according to a company release.

Oil will supply six million standard cubic meters per day of gas for the proposed plant while around 160,000 tonnes a year of naphtha would be sourced from NRL. ONGC will supply the balance requirement of feedstock amounting to 1.3 mmscmd of gas up to 2012 and one mmscmd thereafter.

The petrochemical complex will produce 110,000 tonnes of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Additionally, it will produce 60,000 tons of polypropylene, 55,700 tonnes of raw pyrolisis gasoline and 12,500 tonnes of fuel oil.

Tripathi said BCPL will set up gas dehydration and compressor facilities at Duliajan for supply of six mmscmd for natural gas from OIL, Duliajan to Lepetkata where C2 plus liquids would be recovered and the lean gas sent back to OIL, Duliajan for distribution to gas customers. The gas would be piped between Duliajan and Lepetak through pipelines laid between the two facilities.

He added that C3/C4 recovery plant of Gail at Lakwa will undergo modifications to C2 plus liquids recovery plant and C2 plus liquids will be piped from Lakwa to the plant at Lepetkata. The gas cracker will be fed C2 plus liquids from the Gail Lakwa plant, natural gas from Oil, Duliajan and naptha from NRL at Numaligarh.