Matix's project at Panagarh in Burdwan district of West Bengal, with capacities to produce ammonia and urea of 1.3 million tonne a year, was initially slated to get commissioned in the first half of 2013, has thus suffered a delay of about two years.
The woes of Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals, country's first major project based on coal-bed methane gas as fuel, is set to end with assured supplies from Essar Oil's nearby block set to begin in the current quarter.
The assurance from Essar, with whom Matix has a 20-year supply pact, has also prompted the promoter of the project, the Kanodias of the Datamatics group, to speed up the project, with mechanical completion set to end soon and trial production to start in 3-4 months, Kapil Khandelwal, senior VP - commercial of Matix, told dna.
Matix's project at Panagarh in Burdwan district of West Bengal, with capacities to produce ammonia and urea of 1.3 million tonne a year, was initially slated to get commissioned in the first half of 2013, has thus suffered a delay of about two years.
The Kanodias and the Ruias of Essar are related: Nishant Kanodia, son of group head Yogendra Kanodia, is the son-in-law of Ravi Ruia.
"Coal Bed Methane supplies will start this quarter beginning with 1.2 - 1.4 million metric standard cubic meter a day (mmscmd) which would help us produce 1.3 million tonnes of urea per annum. The 20-years contract with Essar is for 2.8 mmscmd, which would be reached as their field ramp up its capacities," Khandelwal said.
The development comes at a time when coal bed methane production in India and its utilisation hasn't seen any encouraging levels.
As per Petroleum & Natural Gas ministry's latest data of March, although the government has so far awarded 33 CBM blocks in four rounds of auctions, there are only three producing block belonging to ONGC, Great Eastern Energy and Essar.
Essar Oil's block in Ranigunj, RG(E)- CBM-2001/1 has entered development phase with production of 0.5 mmscmd, making it the largest CBM producer in the country. In comparison, Great Eastern's Ranigunj South block which has been in production since 2007 is pumping 0.3848 mmscmd while ONGC's output at Jharia in Jharkhand is just 0.007645 mmscmd.
Essar has so far set up 100 wells while an additional 155 wells have been drilled and are at various stages of the hydrofracking-completion-dewatering cycle for further gas production ramp up.
To bring in the CBM gas from Ranigunj to Panagarh, Matix has build a dedicated 30-kilometre pipeline. Smarting under the delays, Matix, however, is not betting on CBM for the second phase of the project.
"The expansion project will be based on natural gas, also which will be transported through Pata-Haldia GAIL pipeline," Khandelwal said.
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