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Indian Oil Corporation is well positioned to bag the ₹2,800-crore Ennore-Tuticorin LNG pipeline project which will link its proposed Ennore LNG Terminal with the southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru, according to official sources.
It is the lowest bidder and expects to get the formal Letter of Intent, the notification of allotment of the contract, in a couple of weeks from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board which called for bids earlier this year.
This is a significant milestone for the ₹5,150-crore Ennore LNG import terminal planned by IOC, jointly with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, the State government agency which will facilitate the project. This five-million-tonne-a-year terminal with provision to double its capacity is planned within the Kamarajar Port at Ennore, an industrial hub north of Chennai. Over 130 acres has been allotted for the project.
Debasish Nanda, Deputy General Manager, IOC, addressing an energy seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday, said the oil company has identified Tamil Nadu as a hub for LNG infrastructure, the first of its kind on the East Coast. IOC hopes to award the contracts for constructing two LNG storage tankers of 2.66 lakh cubic metres each in the next few days. Work on the tankers will start early in 2015 and will be completed in three years.
The oil company has identified six major units for supply of LNG as fuel in the vicinity of Chennai including Madras Fertilisers Ltd, Tamil Nadu Petroproducts, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, GMR Power apart from initiating city gas distribution.
The 1,175-km Ennore-Tuticorin pipeline running through major fuel consumption centres in Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin will also include spur lines to industrial hubs in other parts of the State.
These additional lines will link Nagapattinam to Tiruchi , Madurai and Ramanathanpuram. There will also be a separate 290-km line from Ennore to Bengaluru which will link parts of Andhra Pradesh.
This is a crucial project that will supply cheap, clean fuel for industries and for residential use through a city gas distribution system. IOC estimates the industry demand for LNG 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.
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