September 14, 2016 [Platts] - Indian Oil Petronas has obtained environmental approval to expand the capacity of its LPG import/export terminal at Haldia, West Bengal state, to 36,500 mt from 31,500 mt, in a bid to increase LPG supply in the state, a company source said Tuesday.
The expansion will cost Rupee 750 million ($11.2 million), according to a report by The Economic Times late last week.
The report quoted a senior government official saying that the environment ministry has given clearance to the terminal expansion project at Haldia, subject to certain conditions.
Among the conditions, IPPL is required to give adequate buffer zone around the storage tanks and construct a garland drain around the project site to prevent a spillage of oil into the nearby water.
IPPL, a 50:50 joint venture between Indian Oil Corporation and Malaysia’s Petronas, has another LPG terminal at Ennore, Tamil Nadu state, with a capacity of 31,000 mt, according to the source. There are currently no plans to expand the Ennore terminal at this point.
IPPL is however, looking at building a third LPG import/export terminal in the west coast of India, the source said, but added it is too premature to give details.
India’s LPG imports have been growing steadily amid rising demand for the cooking gas.
Imports grew from 6.567 million mt in fiscal year 2013-2014 (April-March) to 8.313 million mt in FY 2014-2015 and 8.885 million mt in FY 2015-2016, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.
