Assam Petro-Chemicals

Semi-governmental Indian company

Assam Petro-Chemicals LimitedCompany type| Public

|

Traded as

| BSE: 506267
Industry| Chemicals
Founded| 1971
Headquarters|

Namrup, Assam

India

Key people

| Bikul Ch.Deka (Chairman)
Hemanta Gogoi (Vice-Chairman)
Rajnesh Gogoi (Managing Director) [1]
Products| Industrial chemicals
Owner|

* Government of Assam (36.41%)
* Oil India Limited (48.71%)
* Assam Industrial Development Corporation (11.53%)

[2]
Website| assampetrochemicals.co.in

Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited is a PSU which is owned by Oil India Limited[3] and Government of Assam. It is the largest producer of Methanol and Formaldehyde in India with production capacity of 600TPD Methanol and 325TPD Formaldehyde. The company was incorporated in 1971 and by 1976 had started production at their small methanol plant located at Namrup along with formaldehyde and a few urea-formaldehyde resins like urea-formaldehyde glue and urea-formaldehyde moulding powder. Post expansion in 1989 and 1998, the company expanded the methanol plant to the capacity of 100TPD (tonnes per day) and formaldehyde plant to 100TPD.[4] The company announced in September 2017 that it would invest ₹1,337 crore (US$160 million) and expand to produce 500TPD methanol and 200TPD formalin and become the largest producer of methanol in India.[5][6][7] The required feedstock for these plants are natural gas, urea and carbon dioxide. Natural gas, supplied by Oil India Ltd, is used as feedstock for methanol production.[8] Urea and carbon dioxide are supplied by BVFCL Fertilizer Plant.[9]

## Methanol production

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The company is among the top five producers of methanol in India; the other four being Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers & Chemicals, Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Limited, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers and National Fertilizers Limited.[10]

In October 2018, the company started a pilot project to use methanol as cooking gas in place of conventional liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).[8][11][12] The company was the first in India to offer methanol as an alternative to traditional cooking fuel.[8] At the launch, the canisters, weighing 1.2 kilograms (2.6 lb) each, were priced at ₹32 each. Eighteen such canisters of methanol were equivalent to one LPG cylinder which is used for domestic cooking in India. The project was launched in support of NITI Aayog under their concept of "methanol economy" to reduce the cost of importing LPG.[8][11][12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Board of Directors". Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
2. ^ "Share Holding Pattern". Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited. 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
3. ^ "Assam Petro-chemicals Limited bags Skoch Gold Award". The Sentinel. 8 December 2018. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
4. ^ "Assam Petro-chemicals Limited – About us". Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited. 2015. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
5. ^ Singh, Bikash (24 September 2017). "Assam Petrochemicals Limited to invest Rs 1337 crore to set up second unit". Economic Times. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
6. ^ Tripathy, Tejesh (3 May 2019). "BJP respects all views: Sonowal". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2019. "Addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of a formalin plant ... The Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited will supply methanol, the raw material needed to make formalin (preservative), to this plant which will produce 200 tonnes of formalin daily. The plant, for which 163 bighas has been allotted by the government at Dhaknamari, is being set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore."
7. ^ Karamakar, Rahul (5 October 2018). "India's first methanol cooking fuel debuts in Assam". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
8. ^ a b c d Kalita, Prabin (28 September 2018). "Assam Petrochemicals Ltd to roll out country's first methanol-based cooking fuel". Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
9. ^ Atikuddin Ahmed (1987). The Anatomy of Rural Poverty in Assam. Mittal Publications. p. 29\. ISBN 8170990092.
10. ^ Dr. Saraswat, V. K. "India's Leapfrog to Methanol Economy" (PDF). NITI Aayog. p. 5. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
11. ^ a b "Pilot project on methanol as cooking gas launched at Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL)". The Sentinel. 6 October 2018. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
12. ^ a b "Launch of Methanol Cooking Fuel Program of India". Press Information Bureau. Government of India. 5 October 2018. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website