Pradhan, Bangla oil minister discuss steps to energise hydrocarbon ties

While tensions prevail between Indian and Pakistan, the Petroleum Ministry has left no stone unturned to ensure that security is heightened at the Oil and Gas establishments across the country. The security arrangements at all the Oil and Gas establishments have increased keeping Indo-Pak tension in mind, informed Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The minister was interacting with media at the MoU signing ceremony between Oil India Limited and University of Houston.   

Prior to this, Minister of State (independent charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday had met his Bangladeshi counterpart Nasrul Hamid. “We are concern about the Energy requirements of our neighbours too like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka,” said Pradhan.

Asked about the issues and projects discussed between the ministers of both countries, Pradhan replied, “We are planning to set up LPG import terminal at Chittagong. The issue of supply of High Speed Diesel (HSD) from Siliguri terminal of Numaligarh Refineries Ltd (NRL) to Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) also came up. Both sides are working on details of the pipeline project, including its financing.” 

The petro minister officials further explained that LPG import terminal at Chittagong will be set up by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and its onward transportation by road to Tripura bottling plant and onshore LNG Terminal by Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) in Kutubdia Island near Chittagong. Meanwhile officials added PLL is finalising an MoU with Petrobangla on setting up of the LNG terminal. Both Sides also discussed the possibility of supplying gas through a pipeline from Dhamra LNG Terminal which is under construction to Bangladesh via Duttapulia in West Bengal.

On the issue of Centre making Aadhar card mandatory for subsidised cooking gas, Pradhan reiterated that Aadhar linkage is mandatory for BPL consumers availing LPG subsidies from November 30 onwards.

Meanwhile, with intent of augmenting its reserves base and maximising recovery from its aging oilfields, Oil India Limited (OIL), an Upstream Oil and Gas PSU, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Houston (USA) on Thursday. Through this partnership main focus will be to collaborate in the fields of Improved Oil Recovery and Enhanced Oil Recovery for production enhancement from matured fields.