Iffco buys stakes in Canadian firms

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco) has acquired 10 per cent stake in Canada-based Americas Petrogas Inc and 20 per cent stake in its subsidiary GrowMax Agri Corp. It has also formed a joint venture with the Canadian company for entering into the exploration business for potash, oil and gas.

Americas Petrogas has already struck oil in Neuquen Basin in Argentina and owns a land base of around 1.5 million acres. Its subsidiary, GrowMax, owns large reserves of potash in Peru. The Indian fertiliser cooperative, which is the world’s largest fertiliser firm, aims to obtain 50 per cent of the potash to be produced from the project in Peru.

“We have been considering entering into the oil and gas sector for the last five years, but, we do not have any plans to participate in the Nelp (New Exploration and Licensing Policy) rounds,” U S Awasthi, managing director, Iffco, said in a press conference here.

Iffco and Americas Petrogas also have plans to put up a urea plant in Argentina using the gas from the field with an investment of $1 billion.