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The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr N. Dharam Singh (second from left), greeting Mr Subir Raha, Chairman & Managing Director, ONGC, at the MoU signing between Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Karnataka Industries Area Development Board and Kanara Chamber of Commerce in Bangalore on Monday. Also seen are the Karnataka Industry Minister, Mr P.G.R. Sindhia (left), and Mr C.M. Lamba, Director Technical, ONGC. - K. Gopinathan

Bangalore , Aug. 30

OIL and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed an MoU with the Karnataka Government and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to develop a coastal special economic zone (SEZ) at Mangalore and invest close to Rs 25,000 crore staggered over a few years towards energy projects, such as gas terminal, in the State. Earlier, the SEZ license was held by the KCCI.

The SEZ would consist of mostly petroleum and petrochemical related industries, besides other manufacturing, trading and service activities as a part of the multi-product zone development, the Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Subir Raha, said.

According to the pact that would be in force for two years, private developers would be invited to set up the SEZ through a special purpose vehicle.

About 360 hectares were required for the project and could employ close to 1,500 technical staff to handle precision plants, Mr Raha said. However, he did not detail the expected time for the project to start.

Meanwhile, Mr Raha said that ONGC planned to set up an LNG terminal within the New Mangalore Port Trust premises, which could handle 12 million tonnes of imported liquefied natural gas and extraction of C-2 and C-3 fractions annually. The company also plans to build a down stream projects, such as cracker and polyolefin plant, in the SEZ. Several other downstream petrochemical processing projects are also likely to be set up by different private sector industrial entrepreneurs.

There is a proposal to set up a 1,500 MW gas-based power plant by ONGC using lean gas. The project includes laying a gas pipeline on the Mangalore-Hassan-Bangalore-Chennai route using the existing right of way available in MHBPL pipeline for enhancing consumption of gas in various sectors such as power, fertiliser, captive power plants, domestic fuel and CNG. There was also a possibility of branching out a line from Bangalore to the North Karnataka region such as Gulbarga to galvanise industrial and economic activities in that region, Mr Raha said.

Earlier, ONGC had informed State power utilities that it was prepared to supply C1 gas, that would comprise 80 per cent of the terminal's capacity, at considerably reduced tariffs to power and fertiliser plants located in coastal Karnataka.

The recovery of the costs of low tariff would be made from supply of C2 and C3, which comprise the remaining 20 per cent.

More Stories on : Karnataka | New Projects | Petroleum

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ONGC to invest Rs 25,000 cr in Karnataka — Signs MoU to develop SEZ at Mangalore

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