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Indian Oil says Rs 4,300 cr Ennore LNG terminal to become operational by October
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer, expects its upcoming 5 million tonne per annum Ennore Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal to start operations by October.
The company is setting up the terminal at Ennore near Chennai in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 4,300 crore and has also made a provision to scale up the capacity to 10 million tonne per annum (MTPA), if required. “The Ennore terminal is expected to be complete by October. The physical progress (of the project) is 92 per cent and we expect to complete in three months,” IOC’s Director-Finance A K Sharma said in a recent analyst call.
He added that the company has already tied-up off-take agreements for 1.5 million tonne gas with consumers. IOC plans to connect the terminal to its Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) refinery apart from facilities of Madras Fertilizers, Tamil Nadu Petro Products, Manali Petrol Products and other customers in the area.
The firm is also working on laying a 1,385 Km natural gas pipeline originating from the Ennore terminal to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu via Puducherry. The fuel retailer is also laying branch pipelines to Madurai, Tuticorin, and Bengaluru to meet the demand from multiple LNG consumers in the region.
“As far as the pipeline is concerned, we are very hopeful that the major batch of the pipeline which consists of 23 kilometers primarily connecting the LNG terminal to our various customers in the area, will be completed on time,” Sharma said. The laying of the complete 1,385 Km pipeline will be carried out in phases.
IOC is working on a capital expenditure plan of Rs 22,862 crore, up 21 per cent as compared to Rs 18,848 crore spent last financial year (2017-18). Sharma said the firm plans to spend 43 per cent of the current fiscal’s capex on refinery segment, 11 per cent on petrochemical projects, 12 per cent on pipelines, 25 per cent on marketing and the rest on exploration and production, gas projects and alternate energy. Aaron Jones Jersey
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