GAIL (India) and Paradip Port Trust, on Saturday, signed a memorandum of understanding for setting up an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Paradip Port at an estimated cost of Rs.3,108 crore.
The MoU was signed by Sudhansu Sekhara Mishra, Paradip Port Trust Chairman, and Sanjib Datta, Executive Director (Business Development), GAIL (India), in the presence of Union Minister of Shipping G. K. Vasan. The MoU envisages setting up of the project with a capacity of 4 million metric tonnes per annum (mmpta) in Phase-I with a storage capacity of 170000 cubic metres.
Of the total project cost of Rs.3,108 crore, GAIL will invest Rs.2,458 crore. Paradip Port Trust is expected to pump in Rs.650 crore in breakwater and dredging. The Phase-I of the project is targeted to be completed by 2017.
Considering the long-term potential of the market along the East Coast, it is likely that Phase-II of the project will also have an additional capacity of 4 mmpta, which will take the overall terminal capacity to 8-10 mmpta.
“The completion of this project will put Odisha on the world LNG map, heralding a new era in the industrial development and employment generation and economic upliftment of the State and country,” said Mr. Vasan.
He urged other public sector units and private organisations to come forward to develop LNG infrastructure in Paradip Port. The Port is strategically located between Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, so as to serve a vast hinterland spreading over States such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
The MoU was signed between Sudhansu Sekhara Mishra, Paradip Port Trust PPT Chairman and Sanjib Datta, Executive Director (business development), GAIL (India) Ltd.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Datta said, “GAIL holds authorisation for laying Jagdishpur-Haldia and Surat-Paradip pipeline, and this project will act as a source of gas to feed these pipelines.”
Under floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) project, GAIL would receive LNG from carriers, store it in cargo tanks, pump the LNG from tanks, and vaporize it. Later, it would export the natural gas through sub-sea pipeline.
