Page 46 - Plastics News April 2018

Business news

Gail arm to invest Rs 3,000 crore in Dabhol LNG terminal to double

capacity

he newly-created arm of state-run gas major Gail after the monsoons," petroleum and natural gas minister
TIndia, KonkanLNG, will pump in around Rs 3,000 crore Dharmendra Pradhan said on receiving the first shipment
to double the capacity at its liquefiednatural gas (LNG) of 1.2 lakh tonne LNG from the US. Gail commissioned
terminal at Dabhol in the Konkan region of Maharashtra the Dabhol terminal in 2013 and the US vessel was the
to 10 million tonne over the next three years. Konkan 78th berthing, Tripathi said. The company will get 22-24
shipments per annum till the breakwater is built. Once
that is done the annual intake will be 80-90 ships.

Huhtamaki acquiring Ajanta
packaging

innish packaging firm Huhtamaki Oyj is acquiring
FIndia-based Ajanta Packaging, a privately owned
manufacturer of pressure sensitive labels, for 13 million
euros ($16.14 million).According to the company the
acquisition would strengthen its labeling business in
LNG, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Gail, had on March 30 India by adding new printing technologies and improving
received the first 1.2 lakh tonne shipment of the 5.8-mt its innovation capability.The acquired business has an
LNG contracted from the first-ever long-term agreement annual sales of 10 million euros ($12.4 million) and
with the US signed way back in 2011 and 2013. "We will employs 170 people at its two manufacturing facilities
be investing around Rs 3,000 crore in Dabhol terminal in Daman, in western India, and Baddi, in northern
to increase its capacity to 10 million tonne from the India. The transaction is expected to be closed at
present 5 mt, which is also underutilised now due to the the end of April. The business will become part of
terminal not being an all-weather facility. "So, to make Huhtamaki’s flexible packaging business segment.
the Dabhol terminal an all-season facility, first we will
invest around Rs 700 crore to complete the abandoned
and semi-finished breakwater. Rest of the investment will
go into capacity expansion," Gail chairman and managing
director BC Tripathi said. Gail created Konkan LNG recently
after demerging it from Ratnagiri Gas & Power, which is a
three-way joint venture it has with NTPC and Maharashtra
SEB. The JV was created to run Dabhol Power which was
abandoned by Enron Corporation early 2000 following its
global bankruptcy. The entire project will take around
three years to complete, and will be executed by Konkan
LNG, Tripathi said, adding the work on the breakwater According to figures India’s packaging industry in is
should be begin shortly. Currently the terminal can expected to reach 60 billion euros ($74.5 billion) in
operate only about eight months in a year due to not 2020. The report also predicted that India’s packaging
having a breakwater. "We've finalised the tender for the industry would register 18 percent annual growth
breakwater which will be floated very soon and hope to rate, with the flexible packaging and rigid packaging
begin work before the monsoons at the earliest or soon expected to grow annually at 25 percent and 15 percent

Plastics News April 2018 46