NAMRUP, Sept 7 - The Assam Petrochemicals Ltd (APL), a Government of Assam undertaking, located at Namrup is a premier petrochemical industry of the region and the first of its kind in India to use natural gas as feedstock for producing methanol, a press release stated.
The APL is facing severe crisis owing to the scarcity of required NG for the last six months. It is learnt that the requirement of NG for the central PSUs viz BCPL, NEEPCO, NRL, BVFCL etc., has been well maintained by the OIL India Ltd but ignores the actual NG requirement of State PSUs like APL, NTPS etc.
The present natural gas requirement for APL is 0.11 MMSCMD which is very minimal in comparison to others but it is not supplied fully by the OIL India Ltd. Scarcity along with the irregular supply of natural gas, severely affects the day-to-day production related activities and the productivity of the company. It has brought huge financial losses also. Due to the continuous fall of methanol price in the international market for last 18 months, APL has to sell its product at a price lower than the production cost, incurring heavy losses per month affecting the company�s gross turn over. In this very juncture the frequent pressure drop of NG adds fuel to the fire. If such a situation continues for long, it would surely threaten its survival, the release added.