Comments
The Union Cabinet is likely to consider approving the Rs 4,320-crore integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, including the regassification plant, at Ennore near Chennai.
The project was initiated more than ten years ago. A regassification plant reverts the physical state of liquified natural gas, which is transported as liquid in ships.
The Shipping Ministry, which had cleared the project, has sent a note to the Cabinet for approving the project. “We expect the Cabinet to take up the project in a week to ten days,” said a source who did not want to be identified. “All doubts from the shipping side were cleared for the note to be sent to the Cabinet,” the source said.
Once the Cabinet gives its approval, the Ennore Port Ltd will issue a letter awarding the contract to Indian Oil Corporation, which is constructing the terminal. After that, it is IOC’s responsibility to proceed with the project. IOC had signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation for the project, which will be spread across 132 acres.
Southern India does not have adequate supply of piped gas and the project at Ennore will address this gap.
The LNG project had been under consideration at least for over a decade, initially by Tidco as part of itsPetrochem Park project and later by Ennore Port Ltd. However, the project did not take off “but now the government is serious to keep the ball rolling,” said the source.
Five years ago, EPL accorded ‘in-principle' approval to IOC to put up the terminal on a joint venture basis but no concrete action has yet occurred, says the business plan prepared for the Ennore port.
IOC will import LNG from various sources. The terminal’s capacity at the port will be able to handle 5 million tonnes a year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.