Jindal Steel signs pact with S. African, German cos

Jindal Steel signs pact with S. African, German cos

The Hindu Businessline
Our Bureau New Delhi

19th November 2005

JINDAL Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has entered into an understanding with South Africa-based Sasol-Lurgi Technology Company and Lurgi AG of Germany for a coal gasification facility at its proposed six-million-tonne steel plant in Orissa.

The project is being executed at an investment of Rs 14,000 crore. The company is in the process of conducting appraisals for this project, which would be executed in a debt-equity ratio of 1.5:1. The debt could be financed through external commercial borrowings (ECB) or non-convertible long-term bonds. The equity would be purely thorough internal accruals.

The gasification technology will employ latest Fixed Bed Dry Bottom Type mark IV Gasifier which will produce 3,20,000 normal cubic metres per hour of synthesis gas to further produce 2 million tonnes per annum of sponge iron.

The technology will enable the conversion of non-coking coal into synthesis gas that would substitute for natural gas.

The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Naveen Jindal, said the technology was being implemented for the first time in the country and added that the cost of production could be 10 per cent lower than the currently price.