Oman Oil plans $3bn investment in India’s closed ferts units

07 September 2010 06:57  [Source: ICIS news]

MUMBAI (ICIS)--Oman Oil Company plans to invest around $3bn (€2.3bn) to revive closed plants of two Indian fertilizer firms and expand a third fertilizer facility, a source from India's Ministry of Commerce said late on Monday.

The decision was made during the sixth session of the India-Oman joint commission meeting in Oman on Sunday, which was attended by India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma, and Oman’s Commerce Minister Maqbool Ali Sultan, the source said.

Oman had agreed in principle to pump in funds to revive Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) and Hindustan Fertilizer Corp's (HFCL) closed units, and also to expand Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), the source added.

The agreement was still at a very basic stage and the two sides planned to explore the idea further through an official working group, which would consist of executives from Oman Oil, the Indian government and representatives from Krishak Bharati Cooperative (Kribhco) and RCF, the source said.

FCI and the HFCL own eight urea plants at Barauni, Talcher, Ramagundam, Durgapur, Haldia, Gorakhpur, Korba and Sindri. Each unit had a capacity of 1.15m tonnes/year of urea.

Other plans include expanding the capacity of the Oman India Fertilizer Company's (OMIFCO) ammonia-urea facility at Sur Industrial Area, Oman, by 30% to 250,0000 tonnes/year, the source said, but did not provide details about the funding for the expansion.

The expansion would take place once the company gets additional feedstock gas supply from the government, the source added.

OMIFCO is owned by Oman Oil (50%), Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (25%) and Kribhco (25%).

($1 = €0.78)

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By: Priya Jestin

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