Indian Oil Corporation has said that it will go ahead with its Rs 4,320-crore LNG plant at Ennore in Tamil Nadu, irrespective of whether it picks a JV partner now or later.
IOC chairman RS Bhutola told newsmen after addressing the AGM of Chennai Petroleum (CPCL), an IOCL arm, that it will appoint contractors for the tank and jetty soon, as bidding process was over.
The company is setting up a 5 million tonne a year LNG terminal at Katupalli in Ennore. The project will attract investment to the tune of Rs 4,320 crore. The terminal can be expanded to 10 to 15 million tonne per year. This is part of company?s Rs 56,000 crore investment plan during the 12th Plan period.
The IOC chairman said the first unit of Paradip refinery will start operations by end of this year and the company will examine setting up a refinery on the West Coast.
On under-recoveries, Butola said, last year under recovery was around R1 lakh crore and this year it may be in the range of R1.38-1.45 lakh crore of which IOC?s would be Rs 70,000 crore, against around Rs 40,000-45,000 crore last year.
Speaking about CPCL?s investment, its MD AS Basu said that the company has lined up Rs 4,000 crore towards expansion of refining capacity and upgradation of refinery residues to distillates, among others. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of December 2015.