PM inaugurates IOC's Ennore LNG terminal

Chennai, Mar 6 () Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday dedicated to the nation Indian Oil Corp's Rs 5,150 crore LNG import terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. IOC through its joint venture company, IndianOil LNG Pvt Ltd set up the 5-million tonnes per annum (MMTPA) capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Kamarajar Port, Ennore, the company said in a statement.
The Ennore terminal is the first LNG terminal on the east coast in South India that will serve customers in the southern and eastern region.
IOC said it bought a shipload of LNG from Swiss trader, Gunvor for commissioning the terminal. LNG ship 'Golar Snow' carried the supercooled gas from Qatar and berthed at the terminal on February 26 morning.
The Ennore LNG Terminal project and associated pipeline infrastructure projects cumulatively account for investments of about Rs 9,000 crore.
"In order to supply natural gas to various consumers, IOC is laying a 1244-km pipeline for evacuation of gas from Ennore terminal. The pipeline from Ennore terminal will be passing through Manali-Thiruvallur-Puducherry-Nagapattinam-Madurai-Trichy-Tuticorin-Ramnathpuram and a separate line will go to Bengaluru via Hosur," it said.
Imported gas at the terminal will meet fuel requirement Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd, Madras Fertilisers Ltd, Tamil Nadu Petroproducts and Manali Petrochemicals Ltd.
Also, natural gas from Ennore LNG Terminal would also cater to the fuel requirements of the industries in Tamil Nadu and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
"Natural Gas from the terminal would spur the development of upcoming city gas distribution networks in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Coimbatore, Salem, Kanchipuram and Ramanathapuram, which in turn would cater to the requirements of piped natural gas for households, CNG for automobiles and clean fuel requirements of commercial establishments and industries," the statement said.
Ennore LNG terminal is part of India's plan to raise the share of natural gas in the country's energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 from current 6.2 per cent. ANZ MR MR