Natural Gas, which is quite environment friendly, is used as feedstock for fertilizers/petrochemical and as a fuel for the generation of power for other industries, in transport, commercial sectors and cooking in houses (PNG – Piped Natural Gas). It is aptly termed as the green fuel and the fuel of the century.
Natural gas plays a substantial role in meeting our country’s overall energy requirement and availability. Since requirement of natural gas continues to grow by about 8% per annum, natural gas is being imported in the liquid form from 2003 onward. Imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) now constitutes almost 25% of our annual natural gas consumption.
To meet the growing demand for liquefied natural gas, IndianOil Corporation through its Joint Venture Company, IndianOil LNG Private Limited is in the process of building a liquefied natural gas import terminal of 5 MMTPA capacity (equivalent to around 20 Million Cubic Mtr per day) at Kamarajar Port (formerly known as Ennore Port) in Thiruvallur district at the outskirts of Chennai. Kamarajar Port is all weather operating port with all the infrastructure facilities like breakwaters, entrance channel, turning basin, modern navigational aids and berthing equipment’s for safe maneuvering and berthing of cargoes already in place.
Ennore LNG Terminal is the first LNG terminal on the eastern coast of India. This LNG import and regasification terminal will supply clean energy (RLNG/GAS) and shall spur industrial growth in the states of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The re-gasified LNG will be distributed to power generation plants, fertilizer plants and other industrial units. The gas will also be made available for City gas distribution, including transport sector, commercial sector and for cooking in houses (PNG – Piped Natural Gas).
Earlier IndianOil Corporation Limited (IOCL) & Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up the of this project through a joint venture promoted by IOCL. TIDCO is expected to join the JVC ( IndianOil LNG Pvt. LTD.)