Infrastructure to supply gas for entire TN to be ready by 2022

CHENNAI: Indian Oil Corporation Limited has said that the infrastructure to supply gas to the entire state of Tamil Nadu, either as a source of energy or as feedstock, will be ready by the end of this year or early 2022. The pipelines division of the PSU is already laying 1450 kilometres of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pipelines across the state at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore.

Amid the challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic, 85 per cent for the work has been completed till now and the entire work is expected to be completed by the end of this year. P Jayadevan, Executive Director and State Head, Indian Oil Corporation for Tamil Nadu, said, “Operators in 17 districts of the state are ready to take CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) to retail outlets and PNG (Piped Natural Gas) to households. For the other 21 districts, the operators will be chosen in the next round of bidding by the Government of India in coming months.”

Currently, Ennore LNG Terminal, with a capacity of 5 million metric tonnes per annum and set up by the Indian Oil LNG Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of Indian Oil, is supplying natural gas to various customers. Its major customers include Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Madras Fertilisers Ltd, Tamil Nadu Petroproducts Ltd and Manali Petrochemicals Ltd.

The LNG Terminal has so far received 25 vessels of LNG from various foreign countries and the gas is supplied to over 15 industrial customers in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala through cryogenic LNG trucks.