BOCI bags contract from Tata Steel, to invest Rs 540cr

BOC India, a part of the Linde group, today said it has bagged a contract from Tata Steel for long-term supply of industrial gases and will invest Rs 540 crore to meet the production requirements.

"BOCI will invest Rs 540 crore to construct two large new air separation plants, each with a capacity of 1,200 tonne per day (tpd), to supply gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and argon to meet the production requirements of Tata Steel's new steelworks," the company said in a statment.

Tata Steel is progressing with the first phase of its greenfield integrated steelworks in Kalinganagar industrial complex in Odisha, which will come on-stream in 2014.

BOCI's new air separation plants, which will also be commissioned in 2014, will produce liquid products to meet the growing demand for gases in the merchant market, it said.

"BOCI intends to establish an extensive pipeline network through the Kalinganagar industrial complex to meet the gases demand of the various steel production units operating there, and our latest agreement with Tata Steel will enable us to make further steps forward in this direction," company's managing director SK Menon said.

The facility of Tata Steel is the first new major greenfield blast furnace-based steelworks in the country, with a capacity of 3 million tonne per year (mtpy), which can expand to 12 mtpy in the medium term.