LPG pipeline from Paradip to Durgapur
Durgapur gas pipeline move
State-owned IndianOil (IOC) plans to set up an LPG pipeline from Paradip to Durgapur at a cost of Rs 700 crore.
The 680 km pipeline is likely to be constructed by September 2012.
"The company board in its last meeting has approved the project. We will be taking up the financial clearance in October-November board meet," K.K. Jha, director (pipelines), told The Telegraph.
The pipeline will facilitate the transportation of LPG from IOC's Paradip refinery to bottling plants at Balasore, Budge Budge, Kalyani and Durgapur. From Balasore and Durgapur, LPG will be taken to bottling units in Bihar, Bengal and Jharkhand.
"The Paradip refinery, which is expected to be commissioned by March 2012, is likely to operate in full capacity by September and will produce 500 thousand metric tonnes of LPG. We will like to have the pipeline by then to transport the gas to the bottling plants," Jha said.
The ground-level survey has been done, and the board has cleared the feasibility report. IOC will take about 30 months to set up the pipeline. Jha said the pipeline would not only reduce the time to transport cooking gas but also bring down the logistic cost.
The pipeline will offer a major competitive advantage to the PSU in its bid to streamline and optimise operations. The firm has completed the Rs 1,420-crore Paradip-Haldia pipeline set up to transport 11 million tonnes of crude per year from Paradip to the refineries at Haldia and Barauni.
Insurance cost
The insurance cost of oil firms is set to rise exponentially following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, ONGC chairman R.S. Sharma said. "This spill is going to be a game changer. We anticipate that our insurance premium next year will rise exponentially," he said.
ONGC had insured its offshore assets for a premium of $30 million before the Gulf of Mexico incident. He said the figure would have been "three-times more" if it was fixed after the disaster.
The firm had brought down the insurance premium for its offshore assets by around 20 per cent this fiscal, though valuations rose 8 per cent.
Telegraph, Kolkata, June 10, 2010
