GAIL Seeks Qatar Gas Supplies for $1.3 Billion Petrochemical Plant

GAIL India Ltd, a state-owned gas company, is seeking assured natural gas supplies from Qatar to set up a $1.3 billion mega petrochemical plant in partnership with Reliance Industries.

The project aims to capitalize on the growing demand for petrochemical products worldwide and GAIL believes that new capacities are needed to meet this demand. The two companies have been exploring possibilities of setting up a 1.9-million-tonne chemical plant, initially identifying 10 countries before zeroing in on Qatar, Iran, Algeria, Nigeria, and Russia.

GAIL and Reliance intend to float a special purpose vehicle with equal stake to set up the overseas petrochemical plant. The state-owned firm has also shown interest in setting up a petrochemical unit in Iran and will soon open up discussions with the National Petrochemical Company of Iran.