The ₹4,320-crore Ennore LNG import terminal project, coming up at Ennore Port near Chennai, has gathered pace with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board calling for bids to link the terminal with a 1,175-km pipeline to Nagapattinam in South Tamil Nadu.

The pipeline will run through Puducherry and link major towns enroute, according to information available on the PNGRB Website.

This will create an LNG supply line along the entire eastern part of Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests gave its final clearance on February 10 to IndianOil Corp’s 5-million-tonne-a-year LNG terminal, to be set up jointly with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corp.

Work on the 130-acre project within Ennore Port is set to start by April and is scheduled for completion in 39 months, according to sources.

The entire land area within the port has been allocated except for some formalities. IOC is in advanced stages in the process of bidding out contracts for the terminal, said the sources.

The PNGRB has called for bids from pipeline infrastructure companies to ensure that the linkage is ready in time the terminal is completed.

IOC, which has also submitted Expression of Interest to lay-build-operate the pipeline, has estimated the LNG demand in the region at 12.5 million cubic meter per day (mscmd) in 2015-16, going up to 18.35 mscmd in 10 years and to 32 mscmd in 2040.

Apart from industrial demand, there is also potential to lay a city gas distribution network in all the major towns and cities along the network.

The pipeline project also envisages spur lines to link Nagapattinam-Tiruchi-Madurai with a 242-km line; Nagapattinam-Ramanathanpuram-Tuticorin with a 318-km line; and a separate 290-km line from Ennore to Bangalore.

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