Following the commissioning of a power plant in Tripura, the state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) is planning to set up a fertiliser or power plant in Maharashtra. A senior company official said that the plant will utilise the gas bounty from the nearby Daman and western offshore C-Series fields.

According to a news report in The Financial Express the higher status in allocation of gas to the fertiliser sector could tilt the balance in favour of a urea plant. The estimated investment is around Rs 13,000-15,000 crore.

ONGC is in the process of purchasing land at Kelwa Mahim in Maharashtra, where a gas processing plant will come up next to the fertiliser plant. The official said that ONGC would build a pipeline network of around 80 km to evacuate gas from the shallow water field around 30-40 meters deep. “The gas will be brought to Kelwa Mahim where we have already identified land. The government is helping us to procure the same. We will set up a shore terminal to process the gas and if we get permission, we will set up a power or fertiliser plant,” the official was quoted.

Investment for the pipelines and the gas processing unit is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore. Since plans for the fertiliser plant are still being firmed up, there is no estimate of the likely investments. However, officials say ONGC might need Rs 5,000 more crore for the fertiliser plant, which was the amount it has invested in its Tripura fertiliser plant.

ONGC had recently declared that the Daman structure will be ready earlier than scheduled. It has upgraded its reserves from the C-Series field. The combined output from the Daman and C-Series fields will be around 13 mmscmd of gas, up from the current 3 mmscmd.

Daman is expected to contribute 7 mmscmd of gas while the C-Series gas field – which has proved to be more hydrocarbon-rich than previously thought — will double output to 6 mmscmd. ONGC has fast-tracked the development of the Daman structure by four years to reap dividends earlier than previously planned.