Guwahati, June 2: City-based industrial gas manufacturer Premier Cryogenics Ltd plans to commission its third liquid nitrogen and oxygen plant at Samaguri in Nagaon district in March next year.

The state-of-the-art plant, currently under construction on a 5- bigha plot, will help ramp up its capacity and cater to the growing demand for its products outside the Northeast.

"We cater primarily to oil, industrial and healthcare sectors and the demand for our products have been growing since we ventured into this business in the mid-nineties. However, compared to Bengal and Bihar, the market size of the Northeast is small and much of it has saturated. With our third plant, we plan to scale up production, reduce cost and cater to markets outside the Northeast," the managing director of Premier Cryogenics Ltd, Abhijit Barooah, told The Telegraph today.

About 10 per cent of Premier Cryogenics' revenue is generated from markets in Bengal and Bihar. "We are looking to double the sales volume in such markets for which the new plant will be instrumental," Barooah said.

The firm has two other plants in the Lokhra area here. "The Samaguri plant will have a capacity three times higher than each of the plants in Guwahati. The equipment assembled at the plant has been imported from the US, France, China and parts of India. It will be backed by sophisticated technology and will be power-efficient," Barooah said.

The strategic location of Samaguri in central Assam will make it logistically convenient, as far as supplying its products across the state and Northeast is concerned.

"We chose Samaguri as the base for our third facility as it is centrally located. The land was acquired over a year ago and the total investment in the plant will be about Rs 45 crore," he said.

Premier's sister concern, Assam Air Products, which also manufactures industrial gases and is primarily into oilfield services, has a plant in Samaguri as well.

"Under Assam Air, we manufacture a special gas - argoshield - which is a mixture of argon and carbon dioxide and is used in welding. The gas has, for the past two years, been supplied to the Bogibeel bridge project in Dibrugarh district, where advanced technology is being used," Barooah said.

Assam Air Products has three projects under way at ONGC in Gujarat since last year. "These projects are oilfield services. The fourth one is coming up as well. We have invested Rs 12 crore in the projects in Gujarat so far," he said.

The group turnover (Premier Cryogenics and Assam Air) last year was about Rs 70 crore. "We are eyeing Rs 100 crore in the next two to three years," Barooah said.