LNG - User's Conference

LNG  - User's Conference -organised by Chemical Industries Association (India) on 20th July 2012 

Excerpts from the Welcome Address by the President - P.K.N.Panicker  

 As I stand before you, I am reminded of the days, almost 3 decades back, when this Association was advocating the establishment of a merchant Naphtha Cracker in Tamilnadu, An Ethylene handling facility at the Ennore Port, Laying of Petroleum product pipelines connecting major towns in Tamilnadu and extending to Kochi and a Southern Gas Grid. Things did not happen the way we wished and Tamilnadu, because of wrong policy decisions, lost the advantage of having established many pioneering chemical manufacturing facilities in the early days, a foundation on which the state and perhaps the south as a whole could have built a flourishing chemical and bulk drug sector. Growth of the chemical sector in the state and perhaps in the whole of south got stalled and continues to be a story of missed opportunities; and the story repeats again and again - not in Tamilnadu alone but in the whole country. Even so we can be happy and proud that this country has a wonderful capacity to sustain; go along in spite of everything that goes wrong time and again.

It was only a couple of weeks back that the PCPIR (Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region) project in Tamilnadu obtained Cabinet nod. This, without doubt, is welcome news. The six million tons per annum refinery project (to be expanded to 9 m.tons) of Nagarjuna Oil Corporation jointly with TIDCO at a total cost of Rs.9,600.crores will form part of the PCPIR. NOCL plans to set up facilities for production of xylene, PTA and recovery of propylene.The total investment planned in the PCPIR is Rs.92,160.crores. Another project slated to be part of this PCPIR is the integrated 15 million tons per annum refinery cum petrochemical complex of CPCL. It will have a grass root refinery along with an ethylene cracker and down stream units for aromatic derivatives and paraxylene with an envisaged of Rs.40,000. Crores. 

LNG import terminal at Ennore Port by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd with storage and regasification facilities of 5million tpa capacity, according to the company's Chairman, Mr R.S. Butola, is estimated to cost 4,320 crore. TIDCO partners this project.  In addition,  The Indian Oil Petronas Pvt. Ltd is setting up an LPG import-export terminal at Ennore Port with tankage capacity of 30,600 tonnes to be completed by March 2016 and the LPG terminal by August 2012 is estimated to cost 498 crore.  These projects together with the LNG terminal at Kochi can redraw the face of the Chemical Industry sector in Southern India - and the Energy sector too. We welcome these developments and this seminar with this backdrop is organised to have a frank exchange of views among technologists and potential stake holders as to how the newly created facilities can be best used.   

We are really overwhelmed by the response from leading corporate houses involved in the field – more than 30 distinguished delegates representing almost all leading stake holders.    

This country, based on a conventional understanding, is highly deficit in energy resources; Any meaningful improvement in the material living standards of our people is possible only with substantial increase in power generation. Our per capita power consumption is just around 780 units per annum in comparison with 1200 in SriLanka, 2230 in Brazil, 2470 in China 13000 in USA and even more in other developed countries.  Social inclusion is possible only when the tediousness of manual jobs is reduced. Let us not take the freebie culture  ushered in by the political leadership in the country lightly. It has a social message that can be understood if we remember that the free country of which Poet Subramaniya Bharati dreamed had grinding machines and washing machines as essential components in it. And this is what made Bill gates tell that poverty is, more a social mind set than economic.  This is what makes increased power generation highly relevant. Naturally we have to look at all possible resources within the country and even outside. Thorium based nuclear energy is one such and being actively advocated by our former President Dr. Abdulkalam. Solar, wind, Bio including Algae are potential candidates but the gestation period to make them really viable and dependable is going to be long. The other resource that we can immediately look at is Natural gas. Though our own finds are not that great to give us comfort, resources elsewhere is large enough to give us hope, subject to our being able to evolve the correct strategies and relationship with other countries rich in Natural gas.  

Look at what is happening in the United States.  The whole nation seems to be celebrating the rich shale gas find, and is optimistic and enthusiastic about a rebound of their otherwise  battered economy. With economical shale gas development in the oil and gas industries  U.S. is ramping up with more than 1,400 oil and natural gas midstream and upstream projects supported by $163 billion or more in investments. Chris Witte of BASF's Freeport complex stated that Texas alone is home to 12 or more planned chemical-facility projects, including an expansion of Dow Chemical's Freeport complex, marking the biggest industry growth in the state since the 1980s. The concern for some companies is finding enough skilled workers. US Energy Department forecasts that the share of gas in  power generation will increase to 27 percent in 2035 from 24 percent in 2010 and that the U.S. may become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas in 2016 – that is in another four years from now. U.S. LNG exports may start with a capacity of 1.1 billion cubic feet a day in 2016 and to be doubled by 2019. Other gas rich countries are also looking at the possibility of exporting gas and obviously large oil importers like India are eagerly awaited markets. These developments will seriously impact international oil prices and in all probability, being a substantial importer of oil, in our favour.  

If this be the case, what are we waiting for? Our own reserves are not being utilised the way we ought to. Even the expected production from Reliance has of late reduced. Many power projects shaping up along the east cost are in serious predicament. We have not yet succeeded in firming up strategies to gainfully exploit the reserves in our immediate neighbourhood - Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar.  Proposed schemes based on Iran and Central Asian countries are yet to take final shape. Import from USA is a serious future option but to a certain extent disadvantaged because of the distance involved. However it is essential that we have the necessary strength to engage in purposeful negotiations. This demands adequate built in flexibility to choose. Infrastructure to handle, store, transport and gainfully use alternate fuels in adequate measure is a must. LNG being a serious candidate todays discussions become highly relevant.  

We take this opportunity to emphasise that Tamilnadu Govt. needs to re-look at its policies towards Chemical Industries in the state, shed its ‘touch not chemicals’ attitude as perceived by many in the chemical sector and embark on a new chemical industry friendly regime in the state. Bold, pragmatic policy initiative in this area is bound to attract more investment into the state and eventually contribute substantially to the revenue and all round development of the state. It goes without saying that balanced development of different sectors of industry and not selected ones alone will ensure long term sustainability and growth. We trust that the state govt. will act soon enough to ensure that the opportunity now at the doorstep is fully cashed and the chemical sector in the state leaps forward in the coming years.   

Late Rains - Mohankumar

Book Review
Mohan Kumar
Late RainsThiruvananthapuram : Folio Publishers-Distributors. 2009.
Pages – 88. Price - Rs.160.


Endearing anthology from a seasoned poet
Mohankumar’s ‘Late Rains’ is a collection of 63 poems, his sixth. The collection is rich in its emotive content, appealing narrative and forceful expression. Reading this anthology and may be a careful study, ‘…..sitting by the window of your book-lined study, read on, over a steaming cup of tea, now looking out on the gently falling rain, ….’ (Late Rains p.9)

will, without doubt, prove rewarding, refreshing and enjoyable. Even though Mohankumar feels that the black clouds have drifted away, throughout the entire length of this anthology, one can still discern the intense personal grief that drives the poet to move his pen. As the poet puts it, 

‘Beneath the solid crust,
a seething molten core’

(This Earth p.10) 

is concealed, deep within. ‘That was not to be’ (p.15) is simple in narration, but portrays a vivid picture of an event, highly saturated with its emotive content Here is a poem that makes the reader vibe exactly the same way as the poet would have wanted. 

‘You too thought so.
You did, I know.

But that was not to be.’

(That was not to be p.15) 

These are words that convey more than their meanings, situations that churn you, emotions that eat away your very consciousness. ‘The Leaving’ (p.16) is again a canvas, accurate in details, poignant in its presentation and highly charged meshing into simple, down to earth sentimentality of the living – the overflowing pain born out of her leaving.

‘I call to her,
‘Aye, where are you?
It’s getting late.’
No response.
I look around, see her
in the now-bare bedroom,
weeping.

Years later,
lying on the cranked-up hospital bed,
between bouts of spasms,
she said to me with a smile,
‘This morning, the doctor said,
“Don’t worry; you’ll get well soon.”

‘There was something about it,
about that smile,
something enigmatic.
Do the dying know
when death is only a few hours away?’

‘The Jewels’ (p.18) is yet another one, extremely powerful both in its emotive and semantic content and profundity of expression. The poet has fully succeeded in translating the intensity of his reaction to the nostalgia that he experiences on the sight of those jewels and handing it over to his readers. In ‘Loneliness’ (p.20) he concludes: 

‘and it sits heavy on your unquiet chest
and you are short of breath.’ 

Turning a little philosophical he confesses, 

‘…………………..The wise,
he knew, do not grieve; but he was not wise,
that way. Grief ate into his vitals.’ 

But as time drifted away, 

‘in the morning, he stood out in the sun, felt
the first touch of spring creep into his bones.’

(The Harbinger.p.24)

It is this realisation that there is warm sunshine outside (p.24) and the fact of his having ‘felt a new strength pouring in’ (p.88) that prompted him, that urged him to write many of the poems that appear in this anthology – and it is this very process of pain, withdrawal and coming back that make them powerful and invigorating to read. Even so, the poet’s mind, resting beside the blooming rose-bush is still in a state of subdued hallucination and refuses to accept the finality of the loss. 

‘For deep in my heart,
I know this for sure:
before the rains come,

you will be with me,
never to part again.’

(Before the Rains Come. p.30) 

‘A Few Tricks of Magic’, (p.34) speaks perhaps of an uneasy official tenure, if he had one, and of which I beg to know nothing. ‘There was a Time’ (p.37) is a beautifully constructed poem, rich in its semantic content and conveyed with a force that penetrates.

Beautiful (p.69) is a piece of well-crafted satire at its best. Bonsai with a Difference (p.67) again looks like a piece of fine satire aimed at our present day education system – we emphasise in plucking them young and turn them out, shrunk and diminutive, unfit even for firewood. Mohankumar is able to metaphorize simple, observed facts of life into generalities with meanings within the apparent with ease and in a beautifully appealing manner. Little Blue Flower (p.56) is a very short poem of just three lines, but highly expressive, eloquently states his approach to his fellow beings. ‘Reading Poetry with Ayyappa Paniker’ (p.22) is his personal reminiscence of the well-known Malayalam poet and an insight into what Paniker, the person was. Words seem to follow him, tag themselves behind every little movement in his mind rather than his looking for words. The morphological arrangement of words, the word to word bonding in these poems are of a superior order and place Mohankumar’s poems in this anthology on par with those of the most acknowledged, anywhere.

Mohankumar’s anthology ‘Late Rains’ is good reading material and is undoubtedly the best of all his published works. From a critical one is tempted to rate the present volume as excellent – perfect syntax, morphology, rich in semantic and emotive content, rich in picturesque canvassing and metaphorizing, all that goes to make them endearing to the reader.

M.Mohankumar is a familiar name in the world of contemporary Indian English Poetry. This is his sixth book of poems, others being ‘Pearl Diver,’ 1988, ‘Half Opened Door,’ 2000, ‘Nightmares and Daydreams,’ 2002, ‘The Moon Has Two Faces,’ 2004 and ‘The Diwan’s Discomfiture and Other Poems,’ 2007. Mr.Mohankumar retired as Chief Secretary, Govt.of Kerala and resides at Thiruvananthapuram.