More gas needed for brownfield project, sick units: fertiliser secretary

Additional gas from the KG-6 fields could be effectively used for the expansion and conversion of brown field fertiliser projects, CNBC-TV18 quoted fertiliser secretary Atul Chaturvedi as saying in an interview.

According to Chaturvedi, 15.2 million metric standard cubic meter per day (mmscmd) gas would be required for seven sick units alone.

"I am in discussion with Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)'s oil secretary for gas availability," he said adding that the gas need not necessarily be sourced from KG D6.

Excerpts from the interview:

You said that the sector needs additional 43.4 mmscmd of gas. Can you take us through what that is required for and what could be the modality of obtaining it?

We have said earlier also that we need gas for our expansion projects, conversion and also Brownfield projects which we are in the process of reviving; and the starting point of all these initiatives is the availability of feed stock, that is gas. So we have some projects which have already been identified and which are going through conversion from fuel oil and Naptha to gas. We have some existing plants for which are contemplating expansion; they need commitment of gas and we have got about six-seven plants from the erstwhile Fertiliser Corporation of India and Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation, which we are contemplating to revive in near future. One of the essentials is to have commitment for gas and the total gas requirement according to our estimates is around say 40 mmscmd gas for all these initiatives; and we have to get it from somewhere because that is a pre-condition for financial close.