IOCL gets forest clearance for Paradip-Ranchi-Raipur pipeline

The pipeline to connect Paradip refinery with Ranchi and Raipur

The forest and environment department of the Odisha government has given its consent for diversion of 70.42 hectare (ha) of forest land for the Rs 1793-crore Paradip-Ranchi-Raipur pipeline of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).

The pipeline will be used for evacuating petroleum products from IOCL's  upcoming refinery at Paradip to Ranchi and Raipur.

The state government's approval follows the final nod by the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) in September this year for diverting forest land.

The oil marketing company had been awaiting final forest clearance since 2009 when the project was conceived to give an access to the markets in central and eastern regions of the country. The Stage-I forest clearance was received in February this year.

“The Odisha government do hereby allow diversion of forest land in favour of the user agency for the purpose of laying pipeline from Paradip to Raipur via Sambalpur and from Sambalpur to Ranchi”, said the final order of the state forest and environment department. The proposed pipeline will traverse the states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. It will originate from the Paradip refinery and pass through Jatni, New Sambalpur and Jharsuguda in Odisha, Bundu (near Ranchi) in Jharkhand, and Korba and Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

It will have tap-off points at Jatni , Jharsuguda, Bundu, Korba and Raipur. As per the IOCL plan, about two million tonne per annum of motor spirit, kerosene and high speed diesel is expected to be evacuated through the proposed 1108-km pipeline.

The pipeline project was scheduled for commissioning by September 2012, but it missed the deadline due to delay in obtaining clearances. IOCL officials were not available for comments on the progress of the pipeline. The company has faced several hurdles in commissioning the refinery including slump in the oil market, land and labour problems, law and order problems, delay in setting up of the captive power plant and protests over laying of water pipelines from the Mahanadi river to the plant site.

Since the refinery project is already behind the schedule, the state government was in favour of  a fresh agreement with the oil major with timelines for its proposed investment on the petrochemical complex. The government has clarified that issues relating to the release of water to the IOCL refinery would be finalized after the Central PSU commits a timeline for the petrochemical complex.

In July this year, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas M Veerappa Moily, after reviewing the construction work of the refinery had announced that it will be ready by March 2014.