A clutch of public sector entities – Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), Coal India, GAIL and Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCIL) – has formed a consortium to revive the sick unit of FCIL at Talcher at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore to manufacture urea and ammonium nitrate through coal gasification.
The proposed unit at Talcher, which is expected to be commissioned by 2017, will manufacture 1.2 million tonnes of urea per annum (mtpa).
A tripartite memorandum of understanding for Talcher project’s revival was signed between RCF, GAIL and Coal India on Thursday in the presence of Petroleum Minister, M. Veerappa Moily; Coal Minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal; and Fertiliser Minister, Srikant Jena.
‘Unique’ project
Terming the project as ‘unique’, as urea is produced through coal gasification, Jena said two different joint ventures between the PSU entities were being formed.
The first venture will set up upstream coal gasification and gas purification, with GAIL having a major stake of 80 per cent.
RCF and Coal India will have five per cent stake each in the joint venture, in which the coal gasification technology provider will pick up 10 per cent stake, an official said.
The second joint venture will set up the downstream urea-cum-ammonium nitrate complex and off-sites, including power plant and coal washery.
RCF and Coal India will have 42 per cent stake each in this venture, while FCIL and GAIL will own 11 per cent and five per cent, respectively.
Coal India will supply about 5 million tonnes of coal for this project, which will not only reduce the country’s dependence on imported urea, but will also use the indigenously available feed stock. Talcher is one of the projects under the new urea investment policy.
The increase in urea production will also reduce the subsidy burden on account of reduction in imports.
The present domestic urea production is about 22 million tonnes, while consumption is pegged at 29 million tonnes.