Indian Oil to invest over Rs 588 crore on capacity expansion of its LPG terminal in the port city of Kandla in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Indian Oil Corporation Limited, the government owned largest oil and gas company, today said that it would invest over Rs 588 crore on the augmentation (capacity expansion) of its LPG import terminal in Kandla of Gujarat.

The capacity of the all important terminal from where the world’s longest LPG pipeline to connect Kandla port in Gujarat to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh covering a distance of 2757km across three states including Madhya Pradesh, is proposed to be set up, would be increased by over 4 times from existing 0.6 Million Metric Ton Per Annum (MMTPA) to 2.5 MMTPA by the year 2022. IndianOil holds 50% stake in the joint venture company made for the purpose with headquarters in Ahmedabad. The other two public sector companies HPCL and BPCL have 25% stake each in the ambitious pipeline project. On completion this pipeline alone could supply 8.25 million tonnes of LPG per year, which amounts to about 25 per cent of the country’s current LPG demand.
Addressing a press conference here today Executive Director and State Head -IndianOil,Gujarat, S S Lamba informed this. He said that all the related clearances for the augmentation of the Kandla port LPG terminal has been obtained and even orders have also been placed. The work would begin soon.

He said that in all the company is to invest around Rs 770 crores on various infrastructure development projects including the Kandla LPG terminal. ‘So far in the current financial year 2019-20 we have already spent around Rs 130 to 140 crores,’ he said.

‘Augmentation of LPG Import Terminal from 0.6 MMTPA to 2.5 MMTPA at Kandla would cost Rs 588.20 crores, Construction of Additional Tankages of 34.4 Thousand Kiloliters (TKL) at Ahmedabad Terminal requires investment of Rs 44 crores, Construction of additional Tankages / conversion of tanks to Ethanol and Bio-diesel at various locations to meet ethanol blending ratio of 20% would cost Rs 20 crores, Provision of Vapour recovery Units at Ahmedabad, Dumad white oil terminal (WOT) and Hazira Terminal would require an additional Rs 30 crore investment, Additional Tankage of 3X600MT MSV at Rajkot LPG Bottling Plant would cost Rs 29.20 crores, Carousel upgradation at Sanand LPG Bottling Plant and TLF-2 at Kandla LPG Import Plant needed Rs 12.70 crores while Rs 45 crores would be spent on opening of 150 new retail outlets and Kisan Seva Kendras in Gujarat this year,’ he said.

He said that the construction of the Kandla-Gorakhpur gas pipeline would be completed in 36 months after start of work. It would connect 22 bottling plants directly from the import terminal in Kandala, Iindian Oil refinery in Koyali and BPCL refinery in Bina. The Joint Venture for the purpose was formed in June last year and after doing all the formalities the work would begin. The pipe line in addition to having direct links to 3 bottling plants in Gujarat, 6 in MP and 13 in UP, will also supply gas to 21 other bottling plants in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh through road-bridging.

Talking about the pan India upgrading of fuel from existing BS-IV to BS-VI from April 1 this year he said that the company has already started the upgrading of Refineries, Pipelines, Storage Terminals and Retail Outlets in Gujarat. All the over 1400 outlets would sale BS-VI fuel which will have sulphur content of 10 ppm, a reduction from 50 ppm sulphur content in the current BS-IV specification. BS-VI fuels significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions especially CO2, unburnt hydrocarbons and oxides of Nitrogen and Sulphur resulting in less air pollution. He said that the price of the BS VI fuel was likely to be slightly higher than the existing one. The planned expenditure for transition to BS-VI on all India basis is approximately Rs. 17,000 Crores.

He said that BS VI which was Indian equivalent of Euro VI standard was the purest possible form of petrol and diesel and was as good as CNG.

Lamba said the IndianOil would also start 30 more CNG station in Gujarat this year taking the total number of such stations in the state to 180.

To a query he also said that the company would also open its initial compressed bio gas (CBG) retail outlet in Gujarat in Surendranagar (2) and Ananad (1) in next 3 months.

Talking about Pradhanmantri Ujwala Yojana he said, ‘Total number of PMUY connections released by IndianOil in Gujarat is 14.09 lacs and on pan India level IndianOil has 3.7 crore beneficiaries. The LPG penetration has improved in Gujarat from around 49% in 2014 to 88.7% presently (All India 56% in 2014 to 97% presently).

DeshGujarat