ONGC gets approval for its Aviation Turbine Fuel

Bangalore, Aug 6 (UNI) State-owned petro giant ONGC crossed yet another milestone when Centre for military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) here according airworthiness approval for aviation turbine fuel (ATF) processed at its Hazira Plant.

With this certification, ONGC would be able to sell its ATF for the use of Indian Military Aircrafts.

According to a DRDO press release, the certification would mean that ONGC would bring more competition in pricing of the ATF.

Established in 1995 CEMILAC is responsible for certifying airworthiness of military aircraft and airborne stores.

Dr Dipankar Banerjee, Chief Controller of DRDO presented the Technical certificate to Mr N K Mitra, Director (Marketing) here today.

According to Mr Mitra, ONGC produced ATF at its Hazir plant by extracting it from gas concentrate. ATF normally was produced from crude oil. Gas condensate, having a mixture of lower hydrocarbons, was comparatively clean and ATF produced from it had some inherent advantages over the oil based product.

It was low in sulphur, aromatic content and improved lubricity thereby it does not require addition of lubricity additives.

ATF produced by ONGC had been successfully flight tested in the helicopters used by the petroleum major in its Western offshore operations and more than 1000 flying hours had been clocked.

UNI