The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is eyeing a yearly supply target of 2.5 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Tamil Nadu by 2023 via its vast 1,444-km pipeline network, expected to be completed by February 2022. At the heart of this ambitious plan is the Rs 4,000-crore LNG terminal at Ennore, the first such facility along India’s east coast.
P Jayadevan, Executive Director and State Head of IOCL for Tamil Nadu, told media persons that the five-million-tonne-per-annum LNG import terminal, commissioned in 2019, is supplying 15 per cent of its production to major customers like Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Madras Fertilisers, Tamil Nadu Petroproducts, and Manali Petrochemicals through lorries.
“Currently, 85 per cent of the pipeline laying has been completed despite constraints due to the pandemic. Once the entire 1,444 kilometer LNG pipeline is completed, the quantum of LPG demand will increase. We are targeting 2.5 million tonnes per annum by 2023 and 5 million tonnes by 2025,” said Jayadevan, adding that the capacity is scalable up to 10 million tonnes per annum as the consumption grows. IOCL has already signed agreements to supply over 40 industrial customers located along the supply route.
The LNG pipeline, commencing from this terminal in Ennore, would run alongside the Chennai-Tiruchy-Madurai pipeline for liquid fuels and would touch all these cities. From Madurai, it would be linked to the Ramanathapuram-Thoothukudi section of the pipeline, which has already been commissioned and operational from February.
The main pipeline would get connected through branch lines and spur lines to all the major commercial or industrial clusters in Kancheepuram, Asanur, Puducherry, Sriperumbudur, Cuddalore, and Nagapattinam districts. The pipeline would also have a separate loop line passing through Thiruvallur to Bengaluru. According to the plan, the pipeline, along its route, will cover three States and 21 districts.
