Page 152 - CW E-Magazine (11-3-2025)

Hydrocarbons

LOGISTICS
IHB’s Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline set to be fully

operational by June

IHB Ltd., a joint venture of Indian try as about 70% of
Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum bottling plants still
Corporation Ltd. and Bharat Petroleum get it by trucks. The
Corporation Ltd., is set to fully com- Petroleum and Natu-
mission the “world’s longest liquefi ed ral Gas Regulatory
petroleum gas (LPG) pipeline” by June. Board has been push-
ing refi ners to build
The jv was incorporated in 2019 to more pipelines to
implement and operate the 2,800-km tackle increased vol-
Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline project. umes and avoid any
The $1.3-bn project will likely major road disasters.
“This will be a game changer in the replace hundreds of trucks that travel
LPG supply chain,” said Mr. N. Senthil across the length and breadth of the Local use of the fuel, mainly needed
Kumar, Director of pipelines at IOC, country to move the fuel from refi neries for home cooking, has surged four-fi fths
said in an interview with Bloomberg. to bottling plants, raising the risk of over the past decade to 29.6-million
The fi rst phase will be commissioned accidents. The network will be capable of tons in the fi scal year ended in March
in March, and will be fully operational annually transporting about 8.3-million 2024, outpacing a 47% expansion in
from the middle of this year, said tons of LPG, or about 25% of India’s demand for refi ned oil products. India
Mr. Kumar, who is also the Chairman total demand. It’s likely to signifi cantly currently has an LPG pipeline network
of the joint venture. reduce transportation costs in the coun- of almost 5,000-kms.

India’s oil imports from Russia hit 2-year low

India’s imports of crude oil from 2024, are likely to drop further in the age of about 1.4-million barrels a day in
Russia slumped in February to the next two months as the sanctions have February, the data showed. Shipments
lowest level since January 2023, according led to a sharp cut in the fl eet availabi- by its second-biggest supplier Iraq,
to data analytics company Kpler, lity and sellers of discounted cargoes, however, jumped 8.3%.
underlining how stringent US sanctions according to a recent Bloomberg
have disrupted supply chains. report. Indian refi ners also bought more
from Nigeria, Angola, Mexico, and
Purchases by India, the largest India’s imports from Russia fell Colombia to make up for lost Russian
buyer of Russia’s seaborne crude in 14.9% from a month earlier to an aver- barrels, Kpler data showed.

ONGC plans entry into ethane carrier business

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) cracker. ONGC plans to source The proposed joint ventures will
is seeking joint venture partners to build 800-ktpa ethane to secure feedstock for secure local and foreign funding and
very large ethane carriers (VLECs) to the plant from May 2028. select shipyards for construction of
ship feedstock for its petrochemical VLECs.
plant in western India, according to a ONGC is seeking partnership with
document posted on the company’s companies with experience in the ONGC will be responsible for
website. operation and management of VLECs, shipping of ethane and chartering of
very large gas carriers and liquefi ed VLECs from the planned joint venture.
ONGC Petro additions Ltd. (OPaL), natural gas carriers in the global The last date for submission of interest
a unit of ONGC, operates a dual feed market, it said. is March 27.

152 Chemical Weekly March 11, 2025

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