Business Standard

Petroleum ministry to invest Rs 1 lakh cr in Odisha

Mahanadi river basin has proven gas reserve of one tcf

BS Reporter New Delhi

The ministry of petroleum & natural gas (P&NG) has lined up investment worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five to seven years on P&NG sectors in Odisha.

The investment plan includes tapping of one tcf (trillion cubic ft) natural gas reserve in the Mahanadi river basin. “Development planning of the basin would begin soon. In the next 3-4 years, gas from the basin would reach the Odisha coast,” said Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for P&NG.

He said, gas would also be produced from the two CBM (coal bed methane) blocks allocated in Odisha in the Talcher and Ib valley coalfields. Addressing the media persons, here, today, Pradhan said, “The investment plan is aimed at positioning Odisha as the gateway of energy security in eastern India. It will create 50,000 jobs in the state. The investment will also generate direct revenue of Rs 3,000 crore every year for the state government. Incremental revenue will start flowing in from 2015-16.” Commenting on the break-up of investment plan, he said, Rs 34,000 crore would be invested on the 15 million tonne oil refinery of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) at Paradeep, the largest refinery in the PSU sector.

On the petrochemicals complex of IOCL, also coming up a Paradeep, Rs 3,150 crore would be invested on the polypropylene unit, Rs 4,000 crore on monoethylene glycol unit, Rs 10,000 crore on paraxylene PTA (purified terephthalic acid) unit and Rs 18,000 crore on petcoke gasification plant.

Other project wise investments include GAIL (India) Ltd’s Surat-Paradeep pipeline (Rs 5,500 crore), Paradeep-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline (Rs 257 crore), Paradip-Haldia-Barauni crude pipeline (Rs 321 crore), LPG terminal at Paradeep (Rs 2,500 crore), LNG terminal at Paradeep (Rs 5,000 crore), Paradeep-Surat and Rancbhi-Paradeep natural gas pipelines (Rs 5,000 crore), city gas distribution network (Rs 1,600 crore), strategic oil reserve at Chandikhole (Rs 3,800 crore) and revival of Talcher fertiliser unit (Rs 8,000 crore). The minister announced that a working group, to be headed by R K Singh, joint secretary, ministry of P&NG, would be constituted to oversee progress of these projects. The group will have state government officials as representatives. The minister refused a comment on the Centre’s timeline to deregulate diesel prices.

 

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Sep 12 2014 | 8:40 PM IST

Explore News