Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has signed a gas sales agreement with GAIL Gas Limited, country’s largest state-owned natural gas company, for the supply of industrial piped natural gas to its Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha.
Under the agreement, GAIL will supply 8,000 standard cubic meters per day (SCMD) of industrial piped natural gas for iron fabrication processes at the plant.
The companies said the partnership is aimed at increasing the use of cleaner fuel in steel manufacturing operations, supporting lower emissions and improved operational efficiency.
The agreement reflects the broader shift toward natural gas adoption in India’s energy-intensive industrial sectors as part of efforts to support sustainability and cleaner industrial production, GAIL said in a statement.
India’s Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), inaugurated in 1959 in Odisha, is India’s first public-sector integrated steel plant and a key unit of SAIL. Located in a mineral-rich region with strong rail links, it has a modern capacity of 4.5 mln tons per annum hot metal and 4.2 mln tons per annum crude steel, producing a range of flat products including HRC, plates, silicon steel, and pipes for the oil and gas sector.
SAIL currently produces around 20.6 mln tons of crude steel annually and is targeting an expansion to 35 mln tons per year by FY2031. The company operates five integrated steel plants and three special steel plants across India, producing a wide range of flat, long, special, and railway steel products.