The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is planning to take piped natural gas (PNG) connections to nine lakh households in Coimbatore in the next eight years, said a senior official recently.

According to the official, IOCL also has plans to introduce compressed natural gas (CNG) filling facility in 41 fuel stations in the district by the second quarter of next fiscal.

“As of now, 11 lakh households are using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Coimbatore district. IOCL plans to take PNG to nine lakh of these LPG customers in eight years. The cost of PNG will be 35 % to 40 % less than that of the LPG. Users of LPG will naturally shift to PNG as it is more convenient,” V. Gopalakrishnan, Chief General Manager (Retail Sales) and State Retail Head of Indian Oil, Tamil Nadu, told presspersons.

Coimbatore and Salem districts are the two geographical areas in Tamil Nadu for which IOCL has won the ninth bid conducted by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board for creating city gas distribution (CGD) network.

“The CGD sector has four segments namely CNG (used as auto fuel), PNG (used in household), commercial and industrial segments. IOCL is developing an import terminal at Ennore to serve the needs in Tamil Nadu,” said Mr. Gopalakrishnan. In Coimbatore district, IOCL will incorporate CNG facility in 273 fuel stations in the eight year period. Of these, 41 will have CNG filling facility by September-October 2019.

“IOCL will invest ₹1,500 crore for developing CGD network in Coimbatore for incorporating CNG in fuel stations and for laying PNG pipelines for households commercial and industrial segments. Incorporating CNG in one fuel station costs around ₹70 lakh” he said.

Quoting the price of CNG in Bombay, around ₹50 a kg, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said that it will be 30 % less than the price of the two other fuels currently used in vehicles, petrol and diesel.

IOCL has plans to lay the pipeline for natural gas from the terminal at Ennore along the same route of its already existing Chennai-Trichy-Madurai petroleum pipeline. Further, a pipeline connecting Madurai and Salem is under consideration. Similarly, IOCL also has plans to take natural gas connections to Coimbatore from Walayar when the GAIL pipeline gets commissioned.

Rajasekar Rajaram, Assistant Manager (Corporate Communications), Indian Oil Southern Region and Alexie Joseph, Chief Area Manager (LPG), Coimbatore Area Office, were present.

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