IOC plans Durgapur pipeline
Kolkata   15-Apr-2011

State-owned IndianOil proposes to lay a pipeline for LPG from Paradip to Durgapur at a cost of Rs 900 crore to meet the growing demand for cooking gas in the eastern region.

"IOC would be setting up the pipeline at an estimated cost of Rs 913 crore, including a foreign exchange component of Rs 162 crore. The pipeline would not only reduce the time to transport cooking gas but also bring down the logistic cost," company officials said.

The 680-km pipeline is likely to be constructed by September 2012.

IOC officials said the pipeline would supply LPG from Paradip and Haldia to the company's bottling plants at Balasore, Budge Budge, Kalyani and Durgapur.

They said LPG requirements of these plants in eastern India were being met from the Haldia and Barauni refineries by road.

Once the project is completed, the Barauni plant will cater to the bottling plants in Bihar at Barauni, Bhagalpur Muzaffarpur and Patna, the officials said.

The Rs 29,777-crore Paradip refinery will be commissioned by November next year, and the pipeline will be ready by then to transport LPG.

The refinery is estimated to produce 520 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) of LPG. Sources said the production of LPG was projected to expand three times by 2027 to meet the growing demand of consumers. Over the next 15 years, LPG production is estimated to increase from 826 TMT in 2014-15 to 1,509 TMT in 2026-27.

At a capital expenditure of Rs 913 crore and operating expenditure of Rs 32.40 crore per year, officials said the pipeline cost of transportation worked out to Rs 2.482 per tonne per km against the road tanker freight of Rs 4.359 per tonne per km.

IOC has so far invested Rs 6,000 crore on the Paradip refinery-cum-petrochemical project. The petrochemical project will be taken up in the second phase after the refinery is commissioned.