Address: SPIC House
88 Mount Road
Guindy, Chennai-600 032
Telephone: 91-44-235-2039
Fax: 91-44-235-2486
Email: crkccom@spic.co.in
Website: http://www.spicltd.com
Chairman: Dr. A.C. Muthiah
Primary Function: Produces fertilizer, ammonia, and agriculture products

Description and Activities:
Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Limited (SPIC) was originally established as a fertilizer company in 1969 in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. Now part of the $1 billion SPIC Group, SPIC consists of a large industrial complex that includes six major plants. These facilities allow for the production of urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), ammonia, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, and aluminum fluoride. The Ammonia Plant in particular was built in collaboration with the British entity Dave McKey Power Gas. In addition to producing ammonia for fertilizer, this plant also supports the Department of Atomic Energy's (DAE) Heavy Water Plant (HWP) in Tuticorin. This affiliation caused SPIC to be targeted for US export administration regulations (EAR) sanctions following India's May 1998 nuclear tests.

According to the DAE, the Tuticorin HWP's performance has been affected negatively by the SPIC Ammonia Plant on several occasions. This was the case in 2000-2001, when the Ammonia Plant was working on a low-level operating capacity and again in 2001 when the SPIC plant was forced to shut down for nearly two months for maintenance. A recent fire also occurred at the Ammonia and Urea Plants on 27 September 2002 that was reportedly due to a pipeline leak. Both plants were reopened by 9 October 2002.

Key Sources: DAE (Government of India), "Annual Report 2000-2001," Executive Summary available at <http://www.dae.gov.in/ar2001/execsum.htm>; DAE (Government of India), "Annual Report 2001-2002," Executive Summary available at <http://www.dae.gov.in/ar2002/ar2002.htm>; M. Anand, "Getting out of the mess," Business World on the Web, 4 October 1999, <http://www.businessworldindia.com/archive/991004/mktg5.htm>; M. Ramesh, "SPIC ammonia unit shut due to leakage problem," Business Line Online Edition, 4 October 2002, <http://www.blonnet.com/2002/10/05/stories/2002100502780300.htm>; Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Limited (SPIC), <http://www.spicltd.com>; "SPIC ammonia, urea plant resume production," Yahoo! India Finance, 16 October 2002, <http://in.biz.yahoo.com/021016/77/1wi9j.html>; "SPIC Group SPIC Centre-India," Agrobiologicals.com, <http://www.agrobiologicals.com/company/C1752.htm>; "Supplement No. 4 to Part 744-Entity List," Federation of American Scientists (FAS), <www.fas.org/nuke/control/export/news/Nov98Entity.htm#INDIA>.

	Updated September 2003