IOC’s LNG import terminal in Ennore by October

It will have a capacity of five million tonnes per annum

More than 92% of the work on the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd’s (IOC) Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal at Ennore is over.

The dry run for the ₹5,151 crore facility with a capacity of five million tonnes per annum is expected to be conducted in August and likely to be ready for commissioning in October. Work on construction of the terminal began in November 2015.

Upon completion, the terminal will be able to receive its first consignment to test its LNG tanks that are supposed to be as large as football fields. The tanks, which are made of cryogenic material, store the gas in a liquid state at a temperature of minus 162 degrees Centigrade.

Sources in the IOC explained that the terminal would receive gas in a liquid form as it is easier to transport and re-gassify it and supply it to customers through pipelines as gas. The natural gas would be used as gas-based feedstock in the fertilizer industry. It would replace naphtha. In other industries, it would be used to generate power or run furnace.

Initially, the plant would function at 20-25% of its capacity and supply natural gas to industries in the Manali area, including Madras Fertilizers Ltd., Chennai Petroleum Corporation and Tamil Nadu Petroproducts.

The laying of a pipeline to industries in Manali is progressing well.

As far as the main Madurai -Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram pipeline, which has a branch planned to Bengaluru, is concerned, the work is expected to be completed in 2019. The pipeline is being laid in sections.

Capacity expansion

Based on the demand for natural gas, the capacity of the terminal can be extended up to 6 million tonnes per year without adding anything and doubled by the addition of two more tanks.

Provisions have already made for the additional tanks.