NEW DELHI: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is looking to set up mini-LNG plants to evacuate natural gas from wells located in areas that are not connected with pipelines.
The firm has identified five sites in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat for setting up mini-plants that will convert the gas pumped out from under the ground into liquefied natural gas (LNG) by supercooling it to minus 160 degrees celsius.
This LNG will be loaded on cryogenic trucks and transported to the nearest pipeline, where it will be reconverted into its gaseous state and pumped into the network for supply to users like power plants, fertilizer units or city gas retailers.
ONGC has floated a tender seeking manufacturers/service providers to tap stranded natural gas.
The locations identified for setting up mini-LNG plants in the tender are two sites at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh and one each at Ankleshwar and Cambay in Gujarat, Bokaro in Jharkhand.
ONGC in the tender document said while the country has an extensive network of pipelines that connect supply and demand centres, there remains a substantial volume of stranded gas (non-connected) that is required to be tapped for enhancing domestic supplies and meeting the needs of nearby demand centres.
The stranded volumes range from 5,000 to 50,000 standard cubic meters per day that can be produced for up to 5 years.
Before floating of this tender, it had entered into a partnership with the nation's largest fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to set up a small-scale LNG plant near its Hatta gas field in the Vindhyan basin in Madhya Pradesh.
The initial LNG plant capacity is planned for 32 to 35 tonnes, with 45,000 standard cubic meters per day of gas coming from the Hatta field.
As per the agreement, IOC, which is conducting a detailed feasibility study of the project, will bear the cost of the small-scale LNG plant.
ONGC will sell gas to IOC.
The LNG plant will be operated and managed by IOC and it will further sell the gas to consumers.