IOCL plans to invest Rs 18.23 bn to expand east India's first LPG pipeline

The Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline will be extended to Muzaffarpur and Patna to cater to the LPG demand of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal

Oil marketing major Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) is planning to augment eastern India’s first pipeline, the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG Pipeline and its extension up to Muzaffarpur and Patna, with an investment of Rs 18.23 billion.

“Under the augmentation of Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG Pipeline, new facilities will be added at Paradip and Balasore. We expect to commission the project by December 2020. This line will be extended to Muzaffarpur and Patna”, said P C Choubey, Executive Director (pipelines division), IOCL.

The LPG requirement at Patna and Muzaffarpur are now met by train wagons and bullets. 

The investment is in addition to Rs 13.30 billion LPG pipeline planned by IOCL, the first in eastern India and proposed from Paradip to Durgapur for transportation of LPG from Paradip refinery, Choubey added.

The Paradip-Haldia–Durgapur LPG pipeline will cater to the LPG demand of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal and originates from Paradip. The pipeline will have pump stations at Paradip and Haldia and delivery stations at Balasore (Odisha), Budge Budge, Kalyani and Durgapur (West Bengal). IOCL has already commissioned the Paradip-Balasore section of the pipeline.

“With the commissioning of 157-km Paradip-Balasore section pipeline, construction of pump station at Paradip and delivery station at Balasore, the road transportation of LPG from Paradip is eliminated, thereby reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion,” sources said.

Similarly, IOCL has already started work on laying of its Rs 23.21 billion Paradip-Hyderabad pipelines. It has already commissioned its Rs 18 billion Paradip-Raipur-Ranchi pipeline (PRRPL) for transport of products from Paradip refinery.

IOC's 15-mtpa capacity refinery at Paradip is spread over an area of 3,345 acres with an estimated cost of Rs 345.55 billion. The refinery can process 100 per cent high-sulphur and heavy crude oil to produce various petroleum products, including petrol and diesel of BS-IV quality, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel, propylene, sulphur, and petroleum coke. 

It is also designed to produce Euro-V premium quality motor spirit and other green auto fuel variants for export.

Odisha is set to become the first state in eastern India to have all the pipelines in the hydrocarbon chain ranging from crude oil to petroleum products, LPG and natural gas.